| If you listen to a hive of bees, what you'll hear is a | | | | of the hive. |
| droning, humming buzz. Sometimes it gets so loud that | | | | But smells aren't the only ways bees talk to each |
| you might wonder how the bees hear each other at | | | | other; they also like to dance! |
| all. Well, the truth is: they don't. Bees don't need to hear | | | | Bees need lots of nectar and pollen, so when a bee |
| each other, because they don't talk to each other using | | | | finds some, she needs to tell the other bees where to |
| sounds. Bees talk to each other by making smells, and | | | | find it. She does this using something called the |
| by dancing! | | | | "waggle dance". She stands facing in one direction and |
| In school science, you might learn that a hive contains | | | | waggles her abdomen back and forth; each waggle |
| a queen bee and thousands of worker bees. The big | | | | represents a certain distance. Then she turns in a |
| queen is surrounded by her "court" of about twelve | | | | figure-eight and waggles again. She repeats this dance |
| bees. The queen's court feeds her and cleans her, but | | | | over and over, and the other workers watch her |
| if you look closely, you can also see them brushing | | | | carefully. What's she's doing is giving them a |
| their antennae against the queen's body over and over | | | | complicated set of directions: she's saying "when you |
| again. They're doing this because a queen produces | | | | leave the hive, turn this way and go this far, then you |
| something called pheromones, which are smelly | | | | turn this way and go this far." |
| chemicals, and different pheromones tell the bees in | | | | But although the waggle dance is the most famous, |
| the hive to do different things. A worker bee in the | | | | there are many other dances that bees use to talk to |
| queen's court picks up the pheromones from the | | | | each other. The "round dance" is a circular dance that |
| queen, and then uses her antennae to spread that | | | | says "hey, there's food near the hive!", a "vibrating |
| smell around the hive. | | | | dance" that tell lazy workers "hey, get up and do |
| Soldier bees make some important smells, too. Soldiers | | | | something!", and even a shaky, staggering dance tells |
| are older worker bees who guard the entrance to the | | | | other bees "somebody please clean me!" |
| hive from any insects or other animals who might | | | | Bee talk is some real science fun. Imagine if you had to |
| threaten the hive or the babies inside. If a soldier | | | | get your ideas across using only smells and dances. |
| senses danger, she releases a "warning" pheromone | | | | People might start to avoid you if you got really smelly, |
| that tells all the other bees to come help with their | | | | but what kind of dances would you do do to say "I'm |
| stingers ready. School science teaches us to leave | | | | hungry," or "I don't want to go to bed right now." |
| bees alone, and with good reason; if you swat at a | | | | Maybe the next time you have trouble thinking of the |
| bee and she releases that warning smell, you might | | | | right thing to say, you should just make like a bee and |
| have a whole hive of angry bees to deal with instead! | | | | dance it out instead! |
| Even dead bees can communicate with the hive. | | | | Discover more kids science articles, look up amazing |
| When a bee dies, she releases a "dead bee" | | | | fun facts, do animated science quizzes with talking |
| pheromone. This is important because a hive is | | | | characters, meet friends in virtual worlds, play games |
| crammed full of thousands of bees, and they have to | | | | and do fun science activities at Science Score - the |
| keep it tidy and clean so that the bees in the hive don't | | | | world's most fun online elearning product for kids. Join |
| get sick. So as soon as a worker picks up that "dead | | | | the thousands of kids to play with Science Score and |
| bee" smell on her antennae, the smell guides her to the | | | | do well in Science. |
| bee so she can pick it up in her jaws and carry it out | | | | |