Instincts of Bees

IILUSTRATION #1 – BEES

(Pg. 17 “5. The Fall Perverted Man’s Instincts”)

WORKER BEE JOBS:

Nurse (feed the larva)

Guard (protect the hive)

Scout (Search)

Forage (Gather food)

Foraging Western honey bees perform a dance on their return to the hive, known as the waggle dance, indicating that food is farther away, while the round dance is a short version of the waggle dance, indicating that food is nearby. The laden forager dances on the comb in a circular pattern, occasionally crossing the circle in a zig-zag or waggle pattern.

In 1947, Karl von Frisch correlated the runs and turns of the dance to the distance and direction of the food source from the hive.

The orientation of the dance illustrates the relative position of the sun to the food source,

and the length of the waggle portion of the run is correlated to the distance from the hive.

Von Frisch performed a series of experiments to validate his theory. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 for his discoveries.

RESOURCES:

Frisch, Karl von. 1993. The dance language and orientation of bees. Harvard Univ Press.

Frisch, Karl von. 1956. Bees; their vision, chemical senses, and language. Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press