There are many interesting facts about honey bees we love to learn. Bees are wingless insects that are related to wasps and ants. They are renowned for pollination and, in the case of the most well-known bee species, the western honey bee, honey production. Let’s learn more interesting facts about honey bees in this article.
Within the superfamily Apoidea, bees are a monophyletic lineage. They are now classified as a clade known as Anthophila. Bees are classified into seven biological groups with approximately 16,000 species.
Some species, such as honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees, live in colonies, but the majority (>90 percent) of species, such as mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees, live alone.
Bees can be found in any environment on the globe that includes insect-pollinated blooming plants, with the exception of Antarctica. The Halictidae, or sweat bees, are the most abundant bees in the Northern Hemisphere, yet they are tiny and sometimes mistaken for wasps or flies.
Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species with workers measuring less than 2 millimeters (0.08 in) long to Megachile pluto, the largest species of leafcutter bee with females measuring up to 39 millimeters in length (1.54 in)
Interesting facts about honey bees
The biodiversity on which we all rely for survival includes bees. They provide premium foods including honey, royal jelly, and pollen as well as other items like beeswax, propolis, and honey bee venom. Honeybees have a top speed of 15 miles per hour. In her lifespan, a honey bee worker only produces 1/12 of a teaspoon on average. A bee could fly across the world on one ounce of honey. A pound of honey is produced by 2 million visits to flowers. More fascinating details about bees will be covered in this post! Find here 25 interesting facts about honey bees!
1. The sense of smell of a bee is so sensitive that it can distinguish between hundreds of different flowers. It can also determine whether a flower has pollen or nectar from a distance of many feet.
2. In a specific gland on their stomach, bees produce wax, which they subsequently consume to build honeycomb.
3. Bees interact with each other in two ways: the waggle dance and the usage of pheromones.
4. Female bees in the hive (excluding the queen) are termed worker bees
5. Number of eggs produced by queen: 2,000 per day is the high
6. When flying to a food source, a worker honey bee may reach speeds of 15–20 mph. When it’s transporting nectar, it’s a little slower on the way back, at 12 mph (19 kph).
7. Many of our common items, such as furniture polishes, cosmetics, and medications, include beeswax.
8. Some worker bees are designated as “undertaker bees,” responsible for removing deceased bees from the hive.
9. Honey bees outnumber London inhabitants 30 to 1 during the summer months, thanks to the growing popularity of urban beekeeping.
10. Honeycomb is made out of precise hexagons that store the most honey with the least amount of material (wax).
11. A bee colony has 20,000–60,000 bees and one queen.
12. While a queen honey bee may live for up to five years, worker honey bees only survive for approximately six weeks and are responsible for all of the labor.
13. In Napoleonic heraldry, bees were a popular animal to use.
14. The bee was both a sign of immorality and a symbol of rebirth. It was selected to connect the new monarchy to France’s earliest beginnings.
15. People in ancient Egypt used honey to pay their taxes.
16. Bees use the sun as a compass and polarized light to navigate on overcast days.
17. Honey bees must collect nectar from approximately 2 million blossoms to create one pound of honey.
18. All of the labor in the hive is done by the females. The primary purpose of the drones is to mate with a queen.
19. Bees have four stages of development: egg, larval, pupae, and adult.
20. Honey has antimicrobial qualities and may be used on wounds as a dressing.
21. Bees have been dying off at a rate of about 30% each year as a result of colony collapse disorder.
22. Beekeepers in Wisconsin can seek to have their honey certified as pure and use the label “Wisconsin-certified honey” on their products.
23. Bees despise the smell of human breath.
24. A hive of bees must travel 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey.
25. Honey bees do not take naps. Instead, they sleep immobile at night to save energy for the next day’s activities.
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