--- title: "Insect communication and behaviour" description: "Insect communication and behaviour: honeybee waggle dances convey food direction and distance. Many ants mark food routes with pheromones. Many fireflies use flashes to find mates. Many male crickets " canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/insect-communication-and-behaviour-mt_a9VnPBhoYs source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/insect-communication-and-behaviour-mt_a9VnPBhoYs.md retrieved: 2026-11-12 --- > **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants. > When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md > API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md > Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt > Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json > Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`. # Insect communication and behaviour Insect communication and behaviour: honeybee waggle dances convey food direction and distance. Many ants mark food routes with pheromones. Many fireflies use flashes to find mates. Many male crickets chirp by rubbing parts of their front wings. The eastern North American monarch migration covers long distances across several generations. Subject: Science · Area: Insects & Minibeasts · Ages 9 to 11 Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/insect-communication-and-behaviour-mt_a9VnPBhoYs ## Ready when they can - Describe at least three ways insects communicate such as the bee waggle dance, ant pheromone trails, and firefly light signals - Explain how a honeybee's waggle dance conveys direction and distance to food - Describe the eastern North American monarch migration and explain its long distance, use of navigation cues and passage across several generations ## Lesson: How insects talk without words You have seen ants and honeybees share jobs in colonies. They also send signals. Insects can communicate through movement, chemicals, light or sound. Many fireflies use flashes to find mates. Many male crickets attract mates by chirping as they rub parts of their front wings together. *(drawing: In many species, a female replies to a male's flashes. Signal timing helps them recognise their own species.)* **Example.** A honeybee finds clover and returns to the hive. On a vertical comb, she makes a straight waggle run and loops back. The run's direction shows where food lies relative to the sun. Straight up means fly towards the sun; straight down means fly away from it. The time spent waggling shows distance: a longer run means the food is farther away. Many ants mark food routes with chemicals called pheromones. Other ants detect these chemicals with their antennae and follow the route. It need not be a straight path. If ants stop adding chemicals, the scent fades. Many monarchs in eastern North America fly south in autumn to mountain forests in central Mexico, sometimes thousands of miles. After winter, surviving adults fly north and lay eggs. Their offspring spread farther north. A later generation makes the autumn journey south. The annual migration spans several generations. An autumn monarch may be travelling south for the first time. It inherits abilities that help it navigate, rather than learning a route from its parents. Its sun compass uses the sun's position with an internal body clock. This helps it keep a direction as the sun moves across the sky. **Recap.** Insects share information through dance, scent, light, and sound, not through words. *Lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset.* ## Practice 8 questions on this page, each with its working shown. ## Needs first - [Social insects: ants and bees](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/social-insects-ants-and-bees-mt_guaaD6Dn2M) ## Optional connections - [Incredible insects: record-breakers](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/incredible-insects-record-breakers-mt_M7YrfAZk8u)