How Do Honeybees Communicate the Location of Food?

When a bee finds a yummy flower, she runs back to the dark hive and starts doing a special dance. This is called the waggle dance. She wiggles her bottom in a figure-eight pattern while making buzzing sounds.

The direction of her wiggle tells other bees which way to fly. If she walks straight up, it means the flowers are in the direction of the sun. If she goes down and to the left, they should look toward the left of the sun.

How long she wiggles also matters. A longer wiggle means the food is far away. A short wiggle means it is close by. Once the other bees understand the dance, they fly out, smell the flowers, and find the treat!