LING 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 36: Waggle Dance, Animal Communication, Ephemeris
Non-Human Animal Communication
Everyone agrees that animals have communication systems. But do these systems show the
same properties as human language?
1. Do animal communications show that same complexity as human languages? (such as
phonology, morphology, syntax, or semantics)
2. To what extent do animal communication systems rely on innate knowledge, and to what
extent do animal communication systems rely on experience/input?
3. For systems that rely on experience, to what extent is there a critical period for learning?
The Bee Dance: round and waggle
Female scout bees go out and search for pollen and nectar, come back after finding a "food
source" and tell other bees about it through dance
• Round dance
• Waggle dance: more complex, bees use it when food source is farther away and sense of
smell will not be enough. Communicates directions
o Two parts
o Straight section
o Loops: as a restart, go back to straight section and begin again
o Information that is conveyed is complex. The direction of the waggle, relative to
vertical, conveys the direction of the food relative to the sun
o Length of time of the waggle (straight part of dance) is proportionate to the distance
the food is from the hive
o How hard the bee is waggling, or the energy of it, indicates the quality and quantity
of the food source (waggling more means more food)
Evidence suggests that the bee dance is innate
Bees rely on the position of the sun for the dance, so what do they do if the sun is not apparent
that day?
• Bees actually know where the sun is even if they cant see it (night time, cloudy). They
seem to have the motion of the sun memorized, despite how complex it is to do this
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LING 1010 Full Course Notes
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