Von Frisch's Bee Study

• Aim

  To describe the dances of honey bees to better understand their communication
• Method

  Researchers put food close to a hive (10-20 metres away) and far away from a hive (up to 300 metres). Over 20 years the bees were observed 6000 times
• Results


  Round Dance - moving in a circle to show food is <100 metres away

  Waggle Dance - moving in a figure of 8 to show the direction of far-away pollen. Bees went in the direction pointed 60% of the time
• Conclusion

  Bees have a complicated communication system
• Weakness


  Von Frisch overlooked the importance of sound in bee communication. Other research found that when these dances were performed in silence the bees would ignore them
• Strength


  Von Frisch's research has made significant contributions to science as it opened peoples eyes to the capabilities of animals