The most notable form of communication between honey bees is their “dancing”, When workers have located a good food supply, they wiggle their bodies to indicate the direction and distance of the food. The same dance is done by bees that return from scouting a new hive location after a swarm has left the original hive. Through their dance, they are able to show other scout bees the direction and distance from this potential new location.

There are two main types of honey bee dances: round dance and waggle dance. Round dance is a movement in a circle and is used to indicate the food source is less than 50 meters from the nest. Waggle dance is a figure eight pattern while the bee waggles its abdomen and is used for food located at a distance of more than 150 meters.