Archives - Social Science: Page 19
Author: amparo enriquez (Mon Jun 05, 2006 2:06 am)
Title: Honey Bees Waggle Dance
Honey bees employ waggle dance to inform others about food source and the same dances are also used to describe the location of nest sites. In case that flowers lie along a line 40 degrees to the right of the Sun as the bees leave their nest. To report this food source, a bee runs through a figure-eight pattern on a vertical comb. As she passes through the central portion of the dance, she performs the waggle run, vibrating her body laterally, and the angle of the run indicates the direction to the food source. The duration of the waggle run relates to the distance to the food source. When waggle dancing refers to nest sites, it occurs on the surface of a swarm rather than on the combs inside a hive.
Social scientist should study simple social systems like the ones of the honey bees. Examining and analyzing simple social systems could, in spite of our present sophisticated knowledge of sociology, help us to better understand social behavior.