Honeybees deemphasize potential ‘misinformation’ in their waggle dances

October 15, 20262 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmConfident bees work harder to convince their peers of tasty treats Thomas FuchsWhen a bee wants to tell its hive mates how to find a scrumptious field of flowers, it wiggles its rear end. A complicated combination of figure eight–like movements known as a waggle dance tells nearby bees what direction to fly in and how far to go. But what happens if a waggling bee is unsure of its directions?A study published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology earlier this year shows that bees amplify their communication based on how certain they are that their information is true. It seems the more confident a bee is in what it’s conveying, the more emphatically it communicates with the hive, says study lead author Karmi Oxman, a behavioral ecologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.“Confidence is sort of a human-y word, but it’s useful in this context,” Oxman says. Confidence reflects the communicator’s belief in a message’s relevance or reliability, “and the dance is a self-report of the situation in the field.” This extra information also prevents the bee from accidentally misleading the hive.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The experiment started with one bee flying to a specialized feeder. This first bee, also known as the focal bee, was always met with a sugar solution. The researchers then manipulated the scenario by changing what happened after the focal bee returned to the hive and gave directions to the feeder. In the “honest” scenario, the feeder remained full, and all the bees following the directions got a sugary treat. In the “liar” scenario, the feeder was found empty. And in the “unverified” scenario, all the bees were caught before they could return to the hive and report what happened.When given the chance to communicate the feeder’s location to the hive again in a later experimental stage, the focal bee in the honest scenario tried harder to convince its fellows to visit the sugar source by performing more waggle dance circuits—suggesting the bee could assess the reliability of its own signal. Unverified and “liar” bees did not show that same increase; in fact, unverified bees decreased their recruitment efforts.“For me, the big takeaway is that bees are not little robots,” says James C. Nieh, a behavioral ecologist at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in the study. “They’re getting information from their environment, and that [information] also includes how successful they are in communicating to their nest mates.”Both Oxman and Nieh say they wonder what other types of communication beyond what we can see—such as chemical signals or vibrations—could be playing a role in waggle dances. Further research into how bees communicate can help with efforts to “maintain the world in a way that they can still thrive,” Nieh says.Subscribe to Support Independent JournalismGreat science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber