Crack Prelims
← Biodiversity & species · Species & IUCN status
Prelims 2023 · Q15 · Species & IUCN status

Which of the following organisms perform waggle dance for others of their kin to indicate the direction and the distance to a source of their food?

Show answer

Answer: C. Honeybee foragers do a 'waggle dance' in the hive. The angle of the dance shows the direction of food relative to the sun, and the length of the waggle shows the distance.

Watch for: Wasps look like bees, but the waggle dance is specific to honeybees.

Why the other options are wrong
  • A. Wrong because butterflies do not communicate food sources by dancing.
  • B. Wrong because dragonflies are solitary hunters and do not dance for kin.
  • D. Wrong because wasps do not use the waggle dance.

Source to check: Karl von Frisch, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1973 (nobelprize.org), work on the honeybee waggle dance

Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.