The Honey Bee's Sun Compass
Honey bee scouts fly long distances - a two mile radius (which covers 8000 acres) is typical - in search of nectar, pollen, and water. They then return to the hive to "recruit" forager bees to go out and gather these materials. How are bees able to naviagte over these distances?
The main navigational tool used by bees is a "sun compass." The scout bees tell the foragers the angle between the sun and the flowers. Of course it takes time for a scout bee to return to the hive and recruit foragers. During that time, the sun moves, so the angle changes. Bees have a built-in ability to compensate for this time factor, and correct the angle accordingly! They can even use this information at night, Bees can even calculate the Sun's position below the horizon, and use this information for nightime foraging! Although bees do not usually fly at night it is not totally unknown.
Itis said that the bees navigate by the sun and identify their own hive by smell. However mistakes do happen somehow. This is a fatal mistake. A bee will not be able to survive for more than a day or two without the colony and if it tries to enter the the wrong hive it will be repelled or even killed by the guard bees at the entrance.
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