Jürgen Tautz renowned German bee researcher explains how bees communicate. Exciting and
surprising new insights on communication between bees. During the history of bee research
scientists have peered deep into the inner life of bee colonies and learned much about the
behaviour of these insects. Above all the bee waggle dance has become a famous and extensively
discussed phenomenon. Nevertheless recent insights reveal that while bees are social insects
inside the hive they also communicate with one another outside the hive. In this book Jürgen
Tautz renowned German bee researcher provides an entertaining fresh and enlightened account
for lay and professional readers not only about the fascinating dance language but also about
additional remarkable phenomena concerning information exchange between bees. From the author
of the bestseller The Buzz about Bees. The Language of Bees assembles for the first time a
complete overview of how bees understand one another. Although communication biology research
on bees has so far concentrated largely on events within the hive this book directs attention
as well to how bees communicate in the field outside the hive. The reader learns which steps
new bee recruits take to reach the feeder a dancing forager has advertised. The book analyses
the status of work on the bee dance published over the last 100 years and orders the essential
findings as building blocks into a coherent new concept of how bees find their target. In
addition the historical survey of research on the Bee Language explains how several
contradictory and incomplete hypotheses can still survive. A fresh point of view on one of the
most remarkable behavioural performances in the animal kingdom. Observation from a different
viewpoint leads to previously unknown insights. Such new perspectives clearly reveal both how
large the gaps in our knowledge still are in relation to the language of bees and in which
direction research must take to complete the picture of one of the most impressive behavioural
accomplishments in animals. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Tautz is an expert on bees sociobiologist animal
behaviourist and emeritus professor at the Biozentrum University of Würzburg. He is a
bestseller author and recipient of many awards of excellence for his successful communication
of science to a wide public.
