waggle dance

American  

noun

1. a series of patterned movements performed by a scouting bee, communicating to other bees of the colony the direction and distance of a food source or hive site.

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Example Sentences

Scientists have spent years decoding the honey bee "waggle dance," a highly sophisticated form of communication.

From Science Daily • Mar. 24, 2026

Insects are known to be capable of social learning in the wild: the best-known example is the so-called waggle dance used by honeybees to communicate the location and quality of flowers.

From Scientific American • Mar. 7, 2023

Honeybees communicate to each other using a waggle dance that depends heavily on choreography.

From Salon • Aug. 18, 2022

Honeybees also use the waggle dance to communicate the location of rewarding flower patches to nest-mates.

From Nature • Apr. 21, 2015

When a scout returns to the hive, if she agrees with the other’s assessment she does the same waggle dance, thus recruiting other scouts to make their own forays to the superior site.

From New York Times • Sep. 27, 2010