TOEFL
Academic Talk: The honeybee dance
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How does a honeybee tell others where to find food? It dances.
When a forager returns to the hive, it performs what’s called a waggle dance on the vertical honeycomb. It moves forward in a straight line while shaking its body, then circles back and repeats.
The angle of the straight run relative to vertical indicates the direction of the food relative to the sun. And the length of the waggle — how long it lasts — indicates distance: longer waggles mean the food is farther away.
For food very close to the hive, bees perform a simpler round dance that signals ‘search nearby’ without giving a direction.
Researchers have tested this by moving feeders and watching the dances change accordingly — strong evidence that the dance really carries information.
1.What does the angle of the waggle run show?
2.What does a longer waggle mean?
3.When do bees perform a round dance?
4.How did researchers test the theory?
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