Honey bees were displaced several 100 m from
their hive to an unfamiliar site and provisioned with honey.
After feeding, almost two-thirds of the bees lew home to
their hive within a 50 min observation time. About half of
these returning, bees signalled the direction of the release
site in waggle dances thus demonstrating that the dance
can be guided entirely by information gathered on a single
homeward trip. The likely reason for the bees’ enthusiastic
dancing on their initial return from this new site was the
highly rewarding honeycomb that they were given there.
The attractive nature of the site is conirmed by many of
these bees revisiting the site and continuing to forage there.