In bees, dancing is something that can be learned.

Decoding: Young bees learn from their elders to dance correctly. It is through these choreographies that they communicate and can convey information to the colony about food sources, including quality and quantity.

Innate or acquired? The philosophical puzzle of nature versus nurture applies not only to humans but also to bees. In bees, too, there is discussion of genetically transmitted abilities and skills passed down through generations via learning. The famous “bee dance,” which allows scout bees to indicate remarkably precise coordinates of a food source to the hive occupants, is a part of this. This was recently demonstrated by a Sino-American study published in the journal “Science.”