Honey bee recruitment to food sources: olfaction or language?
Honey bee recruits locate food sources by olfaction and not by use of distance and direction information contained in the recruitment dance. Recruitment efficiency increases as odor of the food source accumulates in the hive, from hour to hour and from day to day. Flight patterns, landing patterns, bee odor, and Nassanoff secretion apparently do not aid in recruitment of bees.
D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D004463:Ecology; D005088:Exocrine Glands / Q000378:metabolism; D009812:Odorants; D012903:Smell