Night-time sun-compass behaviour of honey bees at the equator

ABSTRACT. In accordance with the peculiarities of the sun's azimuthal path near the equator, African honey bees observed in their night-time dances apparently allowed for the azimuth moving backwards at night relative to its day-time movement. In several cases the bees evidently inferred the actual azimuthal position of the sun, rather than the one that would result from extrapolating a uniform movement of the sun.