Waggle dances show city bees have shorter commutes than country bees

honeybee

A honeybee on Hampstead Heath, London

Michael Wald / Alamy

A study of the waggle dances of honeybees shows that bees in central London don’t have to fly as far to find food as those living in farmland outside the city.

“We knew that big cities were good for bees, but our study is contributing to showing why,” says Elli Leadbeater at Royal Holloway, University of London. “There is more forage available.”

In the summer of 2017, Leadbeater and her colleague Ash Samuelson visited 20 hives every two weeks to record waggle dances. The …

source: newscientist.com