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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Watch them waggle: bees dance better after lessons from elders

Well-schooled bees’ performances convey where to find food sources, but uneducated insects’ dances mislead.
Apis mellifera (honey bee) - waggle dance. Dancer surrounded by others foragers.

Younger bees know how to do a ‘dance’ that encodes messages to hive mates, but they perfect their moves by watching the dances of older bees. Credit: Paul Starosta/Getty

Bees were born to dance — but that doesn’t mean they don’t benefit from a few lessons1.

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Nature 615, 376 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00693-y

References

  1. Dong, S., Lin, T., Nieh, J. C. & Tan, K. Science 379, 1015–1018 (2023).

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