The bees were investigated by the famous ‘bee-man’, Karl von Frisch. He noted that worker bees normally give information about the horizontal distance and direction of a source of nectar. If bee communication is in any sense ‘open’, then a worker bee should be able to inform the other bees about vertical distance and direction if necessary.
He tested this idea by placing a hive of bees at the foot of a radio beacon, and a supply of sugar water at the top. But the bees who were shown the sugar water were unable to tell the other bees where to find it. They duly performed a ‘round dance’, indicating that a source of nectar was in the vicinity of the hive – and then for several hours their comrades flew in all directions except upwards looking for the honey source. Eventually, they gave up the search. As von Frisch noted, ‘The bees have no words for “up” in their language.
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