Dancing honeybees motivate unemployed workers. Beth Tyler 06.01.01 In a honeybee hive, worker bees, all female, look for food outside the hive. When they return to the hive, the honeybees waggle their tails at other workers. The waggling dance tells other honeybees where the food is. Scientists studying this behavior set up feeding tunnels near hives in nature. They observed which feeder the honeybee was at and then videotaped the honeybee when it returned to the hive. The farther away the food source, the longer the honeybee danced. Also, the honeybee danced in the direction of the food, giving other workers directions to the food. Dancing honeybees try to get other worker bees to help them collect food. CLICK HERE for more information! Esch, Harald E., Shaowu Zhang, Mandyan V. Srinivascan, and Jeurgen Tautz. 2001. Honeybee dances communicate distances measured by optic flow. Nature 411: 581-583. ©2001 The Aurora Collection, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Site Development by: Interactive Multimedia. Inc.