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Date: | Sun, 12 Mar 2006 07:26:27 -0500 |
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As I said before, I do not have a dog in this fight, but there are some
simple questions that make the dance theory attractive.
1. If the dance does nothing, then it should have disappeared long ago.
2. How do bees convey information about down-wind nectar sources if odor
is all?
3. Why, when a source is detected, do many bees suddenly show up and
exploit it? If odor is all, how is distance, direction and quality of
the nectar source transferred to those bees?
4. Why is speculation about what is happening dismissed as speculation
then the "real reason" is speculated on? (Which is what a lot of posts
here are doing. "Their guess is wrong and my guess is right. That is
really bad science.)
I realize we should not anthropomorphize, but I find it difficult to
locate an odor to a specific place without a very random search.
However, given some idea where it is coming from, it is more easily
found. Fortunately I do not have to watch the person dance, but a simple
"in the back of the basement" gives direction and an approximate
distance ( lots of smelly things down there). From there on, my nose leads.
The odor is there. Everyone in the house can smell it. If there is no
wind, it is distributed uniformly and nearly impossible to locate. If
one of us finds it, how do the others find it without some direction?
In this "controversy" there seems to be little middle ground, where both
the dance and odor are part of the whole. But that does make it interesting.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
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