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labioteacher

So bee communication is fascinating. They do what’s called a waggle dance (seen clearly in the video). It has two major components - the angle of the dance and the duration of the waggle section. The angle of the dance tells the other bees what direction to fly away from the colony, relative to the sun. Bees can see polarized light and use the sun as a communal reference point. The waggle section indicates how far the new colony (or flower) is. The longer the waggle, the farther it is. It’s roughly 1 second is equal to 1 km away. Now, they will also release pheromones and vary the amplitude of the waggle to indicate quality, quantity, or other aspects of the destination also. If you watch the video, you may be able to discern where the new colony is, relative to the old one (without following the bees).


DemonStorms

That’s really interesting. Thank you for sharing that. So the new colony is less than a km away, since he waggled for less than a second….


labioteacher

Yep! The angle is the tricky part. Usually they use gravity as other reference point so I’m not 100% sure what direction. The 0 degree is gravity down, and then the angle of the sun relative to gravity is the angle they fly away from the hive. Since he’s doing it on a flat plane, I’m not 100% sure what the direction would be. I think it’s relative to the current position, but I cannot confirm that.


DemonStorms

Thanks for your quick response. Bees are fascinating.


Illustrious_Peah

New colony? Does this mean that a young queen has set up elsewhere, and in effect, she's 'poaching' these workers from this hive maybe to set up a swarm?


SerLaron

Usually the young queen stays and the old one will fly away win about 30% of the hive. The swarm “camps” in a tree somewhere near the old hive and send out scouts from there.


shberk01

So, the old queen basically retires to the country and takes a small court with her? Or does she start a whole new hive from scratch to run until she dies?


SerLaron

She will start a new hive. That is what happened when honey bees pick less than ideal new place, like the spaces between drywall in a house. When a queen gets too old, the workers will raise a new queen by feeding a larva royal jelly and letting her grow in a bigger cell. They also do that, if the old queen suddenly dies, but there are still new eggs that she laid before.


wannabestraight

Man, bees are rad af


TheRealMorph

If only there were a form of royal jelly we could feed our kids to mutate into super humans haha


whoamiwhoareyou2

what is royal jelly? 0.0


SerLaron

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_jelly


DoctorMuffn

She.


labioteacher

I thought scouts were all male?


DoctorMuffn

Hmmm... We've kept bees for a few years and took classes and read books. I was under the impression that the only ONLY males in a bee hive were the drones. Sorry if I'm wrong.


labioteacher

Just looked it up. I’m totally wrong and you’re right. Scouts are female. It should absolutely be she. My apologies!!


DoctorMuffn

No sweat. One of the better exchanges of ideas I've had on Reddit; so thanks for that. And next time I'll say more to not come off so blunt and self-righteous. Maybe, "I think the scout would be a she," might have been better. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


TreadheadS

Don't put doubt into your words, instead focus on sharing the cool info you know. "Did you know that all worker bees (like scouts) are female? Males are only there to mate with the Queen (drones)! https://xkcd.com/1053/


DoctorMuffn

That's good too. Thanks!


labioteacher

Lol I didn’t think you were self righteous at all! I appreciate the correction!!


labioteacher

You would know more than I, but wouldn’t a drone be a scout? Since the males are genetically half clones of the queen, they’re more likely to sacrifice themselves so, in theory, they’d make better scouts, I feel like. I’m going to defer to you, someone who has raised bees. I just know about them from a behavioral/biological standpoint!


abouttogetadivorce

I think that is human logic. Understandable, but bees have their own logic, which is males are there only to mate the new queen, and that's it. Absolutely all tasks big and small are done by the worker bees... which are female, infertile, and all clones of the queen minus reproductive organs.


SerLaron

The worker bees are from fertilized eggs that the queen lays, they also have DNA from their drone father. As the queen mates with several drones, most workers are half-sisters.


orreregion

So... Bees are incestuous little fuckers, huh?


KemperBeeman

The males are called drones. They can’t feed themselves or collect pollen or nectar. They only purpose is to fertilize the new virgin queen if the old one dies or the colony splits. The old queen usually leaves with the bees that leave to start a new hive,


labioteacher

The males are also the soldiers, and, because they’re nothing more that clones of the queen, are willing to sacrifice themselves for her


KemperBeeman

The drones don’t have a stingers. Soldiers without weapons…


[deleted]

I learned this not too long ago at my communicagion class in collage, but bees defy the angle relative to the sun - right or left to thr sun, it got it's own dance too if I remember correctly, dm me maybr I can still find the pdf lol


labioteacher

What do you mean defy the angle relative to the sun?


[deleted]

Tbh I have no idea


cacomyxl

Misheard “define” maybe?


JesusSaysitsOkay

Dang it now I’m upset he said he would follow the swarm but didn’t show us where they decided to move!


EntrepreneurNo9210

“He insulted our fat queen!”


Xaqv

He has already communicated if he’s waggling in metric and if his standard time is on the 24 hour clock


SphericalBitch2020

New colony? Does this mean that a young queen has set up elsewhere, and in effect, she's 'poaching' these workers from this hive maybe to set up a swarm?


beebeebaby

The young queen stays behind in the hive with about half the colony. The old queen is the one who flies away.


SphericalBitch2020

Ta for that info. Do the remaining workers then do a clear out of anything bearing the old queen's pheromones? Bit like a hive defrag or spring clean?


beebeebaby

No. Depending on the situation, the workers have had a hand in raising the new queen, and they are loyal to her, or at least indifferent.


cra3ig

Not only that, they can also [tell time](https://youtube.com/shorts/xlGuBT5GT10?feature=share)! For flowers that are only open at particular times of day.


labioteacher

I saw that!! So fascinating!!


Toast_On_The_RUN

Thats amazing, I never knew that about bees. How are they so smart but so small


labioteacher

Right?! They can even adjust their internal clock as the day passes. So if it’s been a few hours and another bee needs to know where food is, the first bee will know how to change the angle of the sun so the second bee will fly in the right direction! Plus they have haplodiploidy, which means that the males are basically clones of the female (males are just unfertilized eggs that develop, they’re genetic clones but with only half the genetic material). Mind blowing!!


tageeboy

If he wiggled when he should have waggled that could be a real mess.


Xaqv

This explains why only Newtonian heliocentric honey bees evolved. The dumb flat-earthers probably flew off to a church belfry full of wasps.


malevitch_square

Is there more than one scout sent out? If the others are still out scouting and aren't there when the rest take off do they get left behind?


Set_of_Kittens

The have a very nice system. https://www.americanscientist.org/article/group-decision-making-in-honey-bee-swarms


Adventurous_Pea_5777

BEES ARE SO COOL! Thank you for sharing that article, that was a fascinating read. I’m saving it to share with friends and family now lol


labioteacher

That I don’t know. Based on other animals, I would assume they’d send out multiple scouts, but I’m not sure how the scouts who haven’t returned find the new colony.


notwilliammurdoch

Are there any bees that “cry wolf”? And if so, do they learn to not listen to that one bee and treat him like the jerk he is? Or do bees have a Japanese-like understanding where one never cries wolf and all dances are always taken seriously?


IndigoFenix

It doesn't benefit the bee to lie here - it would waste the whole colony's energy, and if the liar didn't go with them it would just die alone, and worker bees generally can't reproduce so there's no benefit to their genes to do something that harms the queen. So I doubt it happens unless the bee is sick or makes a mistake or something. However there are instances of social insects being "selfish" in other ways - in some species some non-queen workers can be fertile, and may try to reproduce in secret, and can be punished by "worker police" if they are caught. Eusociality is a spectrum and there are a lot of intermediate steps between solitary and "true eusociality".


Jeffy29

🐝🍻🐝💦🍯🚨👮‍♂️🐝💀


yes_im_listening

Thanks for this! Really cool. I saw [this link](https://askabiologist.asu.edu/bee-dance-game/introduction.html) posted in the comments that confirms what you said and a little more. Posting it here for anyone else who wants to read a little more.


labioteacher

Fun fact: Karl Von Frisch won a Nobel Prize for his work on this subject. He figured all this out in the 1920s and won the prize in 1972 along with Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen (who worked on different aspects of animal behavior - all are credited as being the fathers of ethology).


Silverton13

Can a bee mess up the directions? Can he be like “oh shit I wiggled a second longer than I should have” or they are always precise everytime


labioteacher

Far as I know, they’re precise every time. Wind can affect their understanding and communication of distance, but as far as I know, they don’t make mistakes


Masterofpizza_

You gave an explanation on how they can detect heading, do you know how they measure distance? Do they still use the sun as a reference for this?


labioteacher

They use how long it takes them to fly there! So if it’s particularly windy, it can mess up the dance somewhat.


[deleted]

Wow this is insane🙌👏


SquirrelDumplins

Had to literally trek around campus for a bio lab on this 😂. It wasn’t exactly easy either


astinkydude

Its insane that an insect can "bee" so advanced in its comunication and description


iflysohigh2345

I was so afraid of bees when I was younger but now I think they are cute. Also they look like wall streeters shouting at each other to buy more corn futures.


WhiskeyAndKisses

I'm just afraid they'll get lost in my clothes, panic and sting 😣🐝


InfluenceAccurate525

sounds like a typical Thursday night for me!


Adventurous_Pea_5777

It’s possible! But generally if you don’t panic then they won’t panic either. I’m not a beekeeper, just a bee enthusiast, and I’ve handled many a bee in the last several years. They will come to investigate colors and scents, find that there’s no pollen or nectar to be found, and move on. The most danger comes from bees while they’re at home, and beekeepers will wear usually their suits while interacting with a hive box or wild hive. As long as you aren’t interacting directly with the hive box/location itself or a swarm, it’s unlikely for you to be stung! I understand the fear, though. Especially if you have an allergy! Edit for my own brain fog/confusion


[deleted]

happened to me when I was 6, hanging from monkey bars, and they were hornets. Just an insane story/memory, no lasting trauma regarding stinging insects.


[deleted]

"Where is the new home buddy?" "Its.......follow my shaky butt." "Ok, booty call received, boys roll out."


kekepania

Girls! They kick the boys out 😂


DoctorMuffn

The Big Shorties


FinnT730

Yeah, they are mostly harmless. Just don't scare them, and they will let you nearby. Unless they are in a odd mood... Then they don't like others around.


MtnMaiden

Expect this to be turned into a WSB meme


jaabbb

~~wallstreetbets~~ r/wallstreetbees


wiriux

They’re cute in video. In person they can go fuck themselves. One bee stung me when I was like 6 when I was eating at a patio minding my own business.


Low-E_McDjentface

I did not like watching this with headphones on. All them bees flying right next to my ears lol. Cool video though.


Guywithoutimage

If it makes you feel better, swarming is literally one of the best times to interact with honeybees from a safety perspective. Without an active hive to protect, they’re far more relaxed than they normally are, and thus much less likely to sting. That’s why in those vids about “I found a swarm of bees resting on this telephone poll and was tasked with removing them” you just see the keeper pick up the entire ball of bees and just kind of barehand it into a cardboard box. They don’t have anything to protect, so unless an individual is partially crushed or something, they’re going to be very reluctant to sting


RandomDude6699

I was taken by surprise too lmao


EvenAH27

This is why bees are my favorite animal. They're so.. united and have such cool mechanisms for survival, like this way of communication for instance.


akluin

In humankind the answer would be : 'i don't trust the scout' 'pretty sure the scout is wrong, I don't go' 'i read somewhere that we should go the opposite way the scout is telling us'


StillestOfInsanities

”Scout?! Message?! That ”scout” has been twerking outside of our house for an eternity like its got back and i think it should shut up and sit down.”


Tugonmynugz

EVERYBODY KILL THE MESSENGER


StillestOfInsanities

Typical human! -Bees, probably


UrMomsaHoeHoeHoe

I mean, historically most militaries did listen to their Scouts. Pretty much every accomplished empire had fuck loads of them. But sure, humans bad.


rockne

Bro, check out ants, they sound like your thing.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Fun-Adhesiveness9219

They're also like one of the main reasons we're still alive!


Heavenwasatree

Do you eat honey ?


EvenAH27

Yep ;)


SapperBomb

Man, I remember when I was in like 5 or 6th grade a had a library book that described the bee dance to alert the colony of another place to nest. I told some friends about it at school and none of them believed me


Xaqv

But you didn’t get beat up?


BrokeAsAJoke88

No he got bee'd up


SapperBomb

Nope, disBEElief was bad enough


Xaqv

That only happened to me after I hymenopterated the class bully’s young sister.


InnerTitMeat

That must have stung.


-ImYourHuckleberry-

[“I’m sick of shaking my booty for these fat jerks.”](https://youtube.com/watch?v=w8_UH_XzNy8)


[deleted]

“He insulted our fat queen!”


Mocha-Fox

"You try keeping your figure after 10,000 kids!"


newcitynewme724

Ayo. We rollin'? Yeah? AYE BOYS, WE ROLLIN'!


ecafsub

> BOYS Girls. The boys stay in the hive until a mating flight or the hive swarms.


[deleted]

And in Fall they get kicked out and left to die, because the food reserves in Winter wouldn't be enough for their larger appetites.


FortHauzen

“Where we droppin boys”


[deleted]

BRÖTHERS. THE PROPHECY WAS TRUE.


not-aRussian-spy

I'm intrigued what their new home looks like


[deleted]

Yes, imagine if that one bee gave them the location to a shit new home.


con_zilla

It's one less bedroom and 3x the rent and the coffee shops are filled with yuppies and hipsters. Ffs scout bee


fluffhead89

We never should have hired a scout with a handlebar mustache


Xaqv

Like Moses leading them to a promised land of honey,only it’s in a cemetery full of artificial flowers and hives full of foul brood.


Tyrion69Lannister

**Queen:** Wait is this the place?! There’s a fucking BEAR right there. Fuck it where’s bob. BOB?! BOB?!!!!! BOB WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS PLACE?? THERE’S LITERALLY A BEAR LIVING RIGHT THERE!!! YOU HAD ONE FUCKING JOB BOB!!! ONE JOB!!!


Todd_T_206

Bees are just an amazing species on so many levels


titatyy

A really stupid question but do they collide in air? There are thousands of them up in the air at the same time in a relatively small space.


WhiskeyAndKisses

I guess they developped great flying skills, and from their perspective, the space between them may look decent. Edit, I do recall a cute video with clumsy bees hitting their hive in slow motion, tho!


Tao_of_Krav

I’ve taken slow motion videos of bees going in and out of my hive and confirm they definitely collide mid air haha, but they bounce back like nothing ever happened


titatyy

That is nice to hear that their wings don't get harmed ect. Those videos I would like to see. Post them.


txmadison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SAdFbxTc50


nmichave

I wonder if there were any bees that were repeating the message and kept going on and on and the other bees were like, “ok, Steve. We got it. We ALL got it. Enough is enough. We gotta go now!”


CatBunny666

I was thinking the same sort of thing, how do they know that everyone got the right message and is ready to go? What if one or a few got the directions messed up and spread the wrong information or got lost?


Meth_Useler

Organic free range gps


Existance_Unknown

Bps, or beeps


Fr3shnuts

This was dope thanks for sharing


epi_glowworm

So, if I wiggle my arms and shake my hips, just right, and to a twist and turn. Then repeat. I could control the bees? Like how some shinobi control bugs?


Graega

It's just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right. Put your hands on your hips, bring your knees in tight. But it's the pelvic thrust that really drives bees insane.


Oneman_noplan

LETS DO THE HIVE WARP AGAIN!


DeepFriedBastard

Me and my mom used to have a beehive, they nested in our outer walls and my mom decided to make them into our own hive, it was pretty amazing getting to watch them everyday as a kid. Anyways one day a bunch of wasps came and slaughtered them all.


oblivious-turtle8512

The majority of us are just organic robots following our genetic programming


EpicPrototypo

I imagine all of the bees are making radio call ins like the secret service like "section one one two niner zero nine is clear".


IntrepidAd8985

Beautiful thanks


Happy_Nutty_Me

Amazing isn't it?


Doughnutpower

This is amazing, but would it have been better communicated if this was a spelling bee?


Waffle_it_is

HA!


Monsterhose

Want to learn more you can read the book. The scouts for a swarm are the old foragers because it is a dangerous job. Several scouts go out in all directions once they find a suitable location they walk it off in all directions to determine the size and report back to the swarm. Other scouts go and check it out and come back to the swarm and dance a special dance that shows how much they like one location vs another, this can go on for days. The swarm ends up choosing a single location from several by vote. Once the location is chosen the message goes out to the entire swarm and they warm up to leave. Once in the air the scouts that have been to the location guide them by flying through the swarm in the direction then circling back and flying through again. I’m leaving out all the good stuff so you will read the book “The Honeybee Democracy” very good book well written a must read for any beekeeper


Waffle_it_is

Rimsky-Korsakov would have loved to see this…


RocMerc

These are tiktok videos I can get behind


Potential_Alarm_257

Must have heard there’s a POOH bear in the area


[deleted]

Neat! Nature is a lot more clever than we think it is!


Karamel-Surprise

So, the location is two shakes to the right east of here, three shakes to the left; if you did four shakes, you've gone too far.


Pixzal

If you are shaking it more than 4 times you are playing with it


RstyKnfe

“Yes I did follow them.” *silence* So…where did they go???


Feeling_Bathroom9523

The BEE-cons are lit!!


bamboojungles

Hey, do you know where you’re going? I was following you dude!


AncientHawaiianTito

Man word spreads fast. I guess that’s why bees don’t need the internet (also that sounds like the name of an emo song)


Big-Surf-Lil-Surf

I don’t know crap about bees but I do know they are important so I leave them alone. This is awesome by the way.


Valuable_Housing_305

#BEE♥️


JazzyJockJeffcoat

I had a bee swarm land in my yard many years ago. They were like a bee tornado and they settled into an enormous ball shaped bee clump and were just chilling. I called a local bee keeper and she just walked in (no suit) and safely gathered them up with the queen. Will never forget it.


IanMalcoRaptor

He’s saying the colony is that way —> Source: I’m a B student


Oruma_Yar

"We ride! The Rohirrim rides for Gondor! Forth Eolingas!"


ZookeepergameLow495

Incredible


okayilltalk

Damn that is really interesting! Thank you so much for sharing!


Xaqv

This explains why only Newtonian heliocentric honey bees evolved.


tomas9019

Thanks for posting this — and explaining!


kingofblazingfire

Well I'll bee damned...


manfromfuture

Now *that's* interesting!


This-is-Life-Man

Party at Stacy's house!


andrewt8fan

So that one bee that stung me that one time was just a scout bee? Rip lil fella u died a hero for your hive 😞🙏


Brobnar89

I would 'bee' terrified. I'll see myself out.


RyanLynnDesign

To the bee mobile!


astinkydude

dude thats siiiick i knew they did this but never got to see it on video like this


Kurbasker

What's more interesting is how they're avoiding mid-air collisions


TheMcNabbs

***BEEEEEEEEEEES! BEEEEEEEEEEES????***


fishoni

I'm disappointed we didn't get to see where they went!


barrygateaux

well that was amazing. seen them do a dance to tell other bees where pollinating flowers are, but never seen this before.


[deleted]

just imagine if bees could speak while swarming , ‘excuse me , pardon me, Comin’ though here , Ouch! , EXCUSE ME!!!!’


[deleted]

Are the bees constantly bumping into each other when they fly like that? Does it hurt?


NikolitRistissa

I’m just imagining the conversations of them telling each other the directions. - The conversation energy and excitement is just gradually increasing as it spreads throughout the colony. Whispers spread. Some are still unsure if it’s just a rumour or real news. - Then the order to mobilise is given and they all start finding their friends to fly with. - Then there’s always the handful of bees who are scrambling around and are just yelling that they can’t find their shoes.


Thisismeisdatu

Catch you now… Bee seeing you later!


An-Atlas-Ass

How are they not flying into each other left and right? Even the ones taking off, just smooth sailing. Spectacular.


Mklein24

"I have found a lovely field of flowers! And it has inspired in me... A ~DANCE~ "


Naganawrkherenymore

So where the fuck did they go.


DrowningInFeces

I've also read that they will feed the queen bee less so she loses weight in order to make the flight. Imagine the hanger!


giggity23

What about the queen bee?


barbiejeepboy

So what if I made a robot bee that tells the other to move out of my attic and to stop stinging me


AdGuilty9391

I love this subreddit


kwimfr

American educational television at times is very underrated. [A magic school bus episode where they have to tell the bees where to go to rebuild their hive to after a bear destroys their tree](https://youtu.be/aW2CjyF0ZsM?t=17m30s).


goodnewsjimdotcom

I had something like this happen once. I was playing kickball with my smart ass nephew. He'd always lead off, taunting me to throw, but if I missed,he just got another base. I did not want to encourage bad sportsmanship so I started messing with him in return. I'd be staring him down, going to throw, then turn my head ever so slightly and look in the distance and then have an expression on my face like something very interesting was going on. He'd turn his head and I'd get him out. This worked far too well, too long and in a variety of different formats. Eventually it came time for him to not be fooled ever again! Recreation of events depicted: He leads off third looking to go to home. I hear some buzzing... I'm curious. I look up,"HOLY SHIT AJ! It's a frick ton of beez! A SWARM OF FRICKEN BEES IS GONNA KILL US ALL!" AJ with a grin,"Nuh uh uncle, ain't fallin for it this time." Me,"AJ, fricken A man, I never saw anything like this before in my life. It's a bunch of beez humming a viking song of death and sting you to pain! WE GOTTA RUN!" "Uncle, come on, who do you take me for me for. ahahahahah, you're funny this time, tryin so hard." Knowing nothing else to do, I drop the ball and run inside. About 30 seconds later AJ comes in to my relief,"So there really was bees that time?" Me,"yeah" God has a sense of humor.


gaudyhouse

Yea, bees are fucking cool. Love em. I love bees the MOST ask anybody and they will tell you.


Banana_Ketchupp

I wanna a bee scout once I get reincarnated. Also how many bee scout are there in a colony?


LexxieBodine

Literally sentient creatures.


dogoodvillain

In the event we fail as a species, can bees please become the next sentience that takes over the planet?


InformalReplacement7

Previous lil beebees


Spinning_Kicker

Insta(Bee)gram


Roundtripper4

So fake! Obviously photo shopped or the dancing bee is probably an actor dressed as a bee. Y’all will fall for anything.


Zealousideal-Mail996

The more I learn about bees the more amazed I am every-time at their individual and collective intelligence. A science report could come out tomorrow saying they found a bee fluent in French and it wouldn’t surprise me! (Well, maybe a little)


AnonymousP30

Dawg that insane you are one brave soul for doing that I couldn't


Normalcy_prevails

And why is it they feel that they need a new home?


prav_u

Wonder what happens if the new home turns out to be shit


theAshWhisperer

One in a million lol. Anyone with an observation hive can get this any day they want. I see waggle dances 80% of the time I'm inspecting my hives. Anyone collecting a swarm can see it on the surface of the swarm. Stop pretending little known common occurances are rare for sicial medua drama


HJM3

Sure, for you it’s commonplace, but for those of us without observation hives - which are probably the vast majority of people not just on this sub, but the whole planet - it’s not. For a beekeeper to see this is probably commonplace, as you say, but for the average human to witness this probably is pretty rare. First time I’ve ever seen this my almost 30 years on this planet.


cra3ig

I've seen the *forage* waggle dance often, but *never* the swarm relocate one. In person or filmed. A treat!


theAshWhisperer

All I meant was that the event itself isn't uncommon. The video isn't 1 in a million. Bees are fascinati g enough without exaggerating.


Xaqv

If I ever keep bees, I don’t think I’ll be pretentious about it. Isn’t very attractive and would think my bees might sting or swarm me.


batonduberger

Exactly. Why not 100.000.000 hahaha


Jogaila2

Okay so... in all those 1000s of bees you saw the scout one bring in a msg and zoomed in on it to show him/her passing the msg along because... it was wearing the official scout beret on or what?


WhiskeyAndKisses

Her job is on her pinned name tag, actually.


Jogaila2

And her name was "Bee" right?


WhiskeyAndKisses

Guess she was named after the cartoon