Facts about bees and pollination will give you an overview of this tiny insect and its activities. Nectar and pollen are the primary sources of nutrition for bees, with the former serving as an energy source and the latter as a source of protein and other nutrients. Let’s find more interesting facts about bees and pollination in this article.
The majority of pollen is consumed by the larvae. Primates and birds such as bee-eaters are vertebrate bee predators, while beewolves and dragonflies are insect predators.
Pollination by honey bees is important for both ecological and commercial reasons, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives. The insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they inhabited in 1980, according to an analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013.
Apiculture (meliponiculture for stingless bees) has been practiced by humans for millennia, dating back to at least Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Bees have been depicted in mythology and folklore, as well as in many forms of art and literature, from antiquity to the present day, with a concentration on the Northern Hemisphere, where beekeeping is considerably more frequent. Since pre-Columbian times, the Mayans have practiced large-scale intensive meliponiculture in Mesoamerica.
Facts about bees and pollination
Here we go with these 40 interesting facts about bees and pollination!
1. As of 2016, North Dakota, California, and South Dakota were the top honey-producing states.
2. The Magna Carta made it permissible for ordinary people to collect wild honey.
3. The only type of bee that dies after being stung is the honey bee.
4. The only insect that generates sustenance for humans is the honey bee.
5. During the winter, some worker bees take on the role of “warmer bees,” vibrating their bodies to keep the hive at the ideal temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Honey is produced by bees regurgitating digested nectar into honeycomb cells and fanning it with their wings.
7. Honeycomb cells are useful for more than just storing honey. They also serve as a nursery for larvae, storing nectar, pollen, and water.
8. Bees have five eyes: three simple and two complex.
9. Stingers are only found on female bees, interesting facts about bees and pollination.
10. A honey bee will visit anywhere from 50 to 100 blooms during a single collecting session.
11. Alaska was not colonized by honey bees until 1927.
12. “It was the cackling geese that rescued Rome, but it was the bees that saved America,” George Washington declared during the American Revolution.
13. Honey bees have 170 odorant receptors and a 50-fold stronger sense of smell than dogs.
14. Bees pollinate over 130 agricultural crops in the United States, including fruit, fiber, nut, and vegetable crops. Pollination by bees boosts agricultural output and quality by around 14 billion dollars each year.
15. Bees have a total of five eyes.
16. Because bees are insects, they have six legs.
17. Drones are the male bees in the hive, interesting facts about bees and pollination.
18. For over 150 million years, honey bees have produced honey in the same method.
19. Every bee colony has its own characteristic fragrance, which allows members to recognize one another.
20. Honey bees create their distinctive “buzz” by beating their wings 200 times each second.
21. Bees have two stomachs: one for eating and one for nectar storage. Anatomy of a Honey Bee
22. Bees have been around for around 30 million years.
23. Honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly are all produced by hives.
24. Sticking out their mouths at passing worker bees, newborn bees seek nourishment.
25. While bears like honey, bee larvae are their preferred food, facts about bees and pollination.
26. Bees have proboscis, which are long, straw-like tongues that they utilize to sip liquid nectar from blossoms.
27. Although bees have jointed legs, they lack anything like a kneecap and hence lack knees.
28. Have you ever wondered why a beekeeper wears a white suit all the time? It’s because dark hues elicit a strong reaction in bees!
29. A coffee blossom provides nectar for this tiny girl. Geraldine Wright captured this photograph.
30. The queen’s smell is a pheromone released by honey bee queens to manage their hive.
31. Two teaspoons of honey would last a bee for the whole journey around the world.
32. The name “Melissa” is derived from the Greek word “melissa,” which means “honey bee.”
33. Honey bee pollination is responsible for around a third of the food humans eat.
34. A worker bee will fly the equivalent of 12 times the circumference of the Earth in its 6-8 week lifespan.
35. A prolific queen may lay up to 2,500 eggs each day.
36. Maine’s official insect is the honey bee, amazing facts about bees and pollination.
37. Honey was discovered in King Tut’s tomb, and it was still edible since honey never degrades.
38. The antioxidant pinocembrin can only be found in honey.
39. Every year, the average American consumes 1.31 pounds of honey.
40. Beekeeping is believed to be one of the world’s oldest occupations.
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