Here are 10 fun facts about honey bees:
1. Super Pollinators:
Honey bees help pollinate flowers, fruits, and vegetables, making them essential for the growth of many of the foods humans depend on[1].
2. Life in the Hive:
Honey bees live in colonies with a strict division of labor: a single queen, tens of thousands of female workers, and a few hundred male drones[1].
3. Honey Makers:
Bees make honey as food to survive through the winter. They produce more honey than they need, which is why humans can harvest some without harming the hive[1].
4. Wing Speed:
Honey bees can beat their wings about 200 times per second, which helps them fly at speeds up to 25 km/h (about 15 mph)[1][2].
5. Waggle Dance:
They communicate the location of good food sources to each other by performing a unique dance called the “waggle dance”[3][4].
6. Only Insect to Make Edible Food for Humans:
Honey bees are the only insect that produces food (honey) eaten by humans[5][2].
7. Five Eyes, Not Two:
Honey bees have a total of five eyes: two large compound eyes and three simple eyes (ocelli) to help them navigate and detect light[6][4][7].
8. Tiny Producers:
An individual worker bee makes, on average, just 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her entire lifetime[5][2].
9. Queen-Makers:
If a queen bee dies, worker bees can create a new queen by feeding a young larva special food called “royal jelly”[1][8].
10. Super Sense of Smell:
With about 170 odorant receptors, honey bees have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, helping them recognize flowers and communicate in the hive[1][6].
These remarkable traits help honey bees play a critical role in nature and human agriculture.
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1. https://www.natgeokids.com/au/discover/animals/insects/honey-bees/
2. https://americanbeejournal.com/tiposlinks/fun-facts/
3. https://www.apimondia.org/latest/10-amazing-facts-about-honeybees
4. https://winecountrytable.com/eat-drink/chefs-tips/25-fascinating-honey-bee-facts-to-sweeten-the-mind
5. https://www.maine.gov/dacf/php/integrated_pest_management/school-ipm-curricula/elementary/documents/FunBeeFacts.pdf
6. https://bestbees.com/bee-facts/
7. https://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/Basics.htm
8. https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/fascinating-facts/bees
