Hi, all.
In his message of Sat. Sept. 13 Dave Cushman advises me that it is my responsibility to investigate anecdotsl claims regarding honeybee dances without dance-attendants (after quoting only some of my reasons for stating that there is no need to bother with such claims). As I noted ( among other points that Dave failed to mention) v. Frisch, whom Dave judges unqualified to pass judgement on this issue, even provided an explanation as to why foragers never dance without dance-attendants. According to v. Frisch's explanation (which I do not seriously accept) foragers do not waste time amd energy on dancing unless they have an audience ready to accept their message re the distance & direction. Recruits, on the other hand, must presumably follow a dancing forager, because they cannot obtain the information unless they know how the forager dances, and they cannot know that except by following the dance, that is usually performed inside the dark hive.
I should be so lucky as to be provided with incontrovertible evidence that foragers can dance without dance-attendants! This this would immeditely discredit what is known as the teleological evolutionary argument in favor of the DL hypothesis. According to that argument: (1) honeybee dances must be useful, and (2) there is no conceivable use for the dances except to serve in a DL.
The only thing that is needed at this stage is for those who claim to have observed dances without dance-attendants to videotape the event, and very carefully study the tape in slow motion (even magnify, it if they still fail to detect any dance-attendant).
I need to do nothing about it, except wait, and I am not holding my breat! Scientists must often use their judgment to decide what claims they need to seriously consider, and what claims they should ignore. Dave points out that he has often made observations that stand in blatant contradiction to that which is reported in print in the scientific media. Such incidents do not reflect on the claim of dancing without dance-attendants, and should each be judged individually. For instance (and I am deliberately using a preposterous example), if anyone came in and reported he had observed the sun performing waggle-dances, I would strongly suspect that he is kidding, or "under the influence", or not quite in his right mind. I would certainly not rush outside to investigate!
Sincerely,
Ruth Rosin ("prickly pear")
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