#enthology

“A massive fire engulfed Brazil's National Museum Sunday, destroying priceless artifacts dating back centuries.”

“Firefighters from seven different stations worked through the night to put out the blaze, but even as flames leaped from the 200-year-old building, Brazilian President Michel Temer said the losses were too great to be calculated.”

“The museum, which is located in Rio de Janeiro, is a former a royal palace that was converted to a museum 200 years ago. It holds at least 20 million artifacts, with exhibitions in biological anthropology, archeology, ethnology, geology, paleontology and zoology, according to the museum's website.”

Honey Bees can travel very far just to find nectar and water. They usually go as far as a radius of 4 miles covering 32,166 archers around their hives, but some bees have been know to go as far as 17 miles or even 30 to find what their hive needs to survive. After 7 miles the honey bees will start to loose more ‘weight’ (-8.6 pounds of honey) then they gain from the foraging process, but they will still go that far to find what they require. With this massive distances for a small target honey bees have a form of language to tell their sisters were the flowers are. They communicate with dance.

There are at least 3 different types of dance that the honey bee uses, the most famous of which is the waggle dance. This is a term used by the beekeepers and some ethologist to describe the small wiggly figure 8 dance that a worker bee will do. A successful forager will perform this to identify the location for all of the other workers. It covers the distance, direction, and and patches of followers, water sources, and even new nesting sites. 

The direction and distance of the waggle run is directly proportional to the distance and direction of the thing they are referring to. some  species of honey bee, specifically the Apis mellifera and Apis nigrocincta, can use the placement of the sun to describe by using the vertical combs of the hive. The duration of the dance correlates to the distance but the speed of the waggle just shows how happy and excited the bee is about its find. Happy bees perform a happy dance!

This dance isn't the only communication used. The scent is tracked by the other bees to find the same source. It is believed that most of the time this isn't new foraging spots one preexisting ones in the hives knowledge. The dance may just be a trigger to activate foraging behavior or activate a memory. This behavior doesn't really function as a language and is actually not that accurate or consistent, it most likely evolved as a social encouragement in the hive. The behaviors extend beyond dancing and include zig-zaging, buzzing, shaking, and even crashing into other nest-mates.

That’s right, those weren’t silly awkward bees, that shit is like a well calculated high-five. A high-five to the face that may end in a broken limb or two. Honey bees aren’t the only ones to do this. Wasps, hornets, bumblebees, sting-less bees, and even ants share this behavior for encouragement. 

There are also more dances that are performed in the hive that are social in nature. the tremble dance is recruitment for a source and is very similar to the waggle. This dance is more sent based and more a warning then an encouragement. There is also the grooming dance which triggers allogrooming. Allogrooming is seen in almost every social animal, including humans, were members in the activity make sure they look good, are healthy, and share a mutual relationship, It creates a proximity bond. 

For my mapping assignment, I chose the busiest part of campus. I chose this location because no matter the time of day, from the University Student Center all the way to the Quad, you can always find some kind of social interaction between individuals. While observing, I noticed everything from music playing to ambulance sirens. I heard laughter, watched a group of boys race on the LIME electric scooters, and even witnessed a DIY photoshoot.

One thing I will say I have never noticed about that side of campus is how bright it is at night. This part is filled with light posts and big, bright buildings. Even though there are street lights and traffic stop lights at the corner, I feel like even if those were turned off, Tyler Hall and Richardson Library alone could continue to light up the block.

One thing that was absent that I expected to find was a larger population. It is a late weekend night so I was hoping to see more of my peers out and about enjoying themselves. However, there was hardly anyone outside. There was a good amount, but definitely not as much as I am used to seeing.