18/10/2022
Interesting facts about bees
Fact 1. To produce 1 kg of honey, bees must fly around 10 million flowers and produce a huge amount of wax in order to preserve this very honey. At the same time, in one flight from the hive, a bee flies around an average of about a thousand flowers! These insects produce honey, of course, not for people, but for themselves, and without its reserves they will not be able to survive the winter. Therefore, beekeepers always take from them only a certain amount of it, leaving enough so that the hive can survive the cold without loss.
Fact 2. About 500 species of bees belong to the non-stinging Meliponini subgroup, and if necessary, they defend themselves by biting the enemy with their mandibles, and not trying to sting him, because they have no sting at all. Most of the species that make up this subgroup also collect nectar and produce honey, but some of them have adapted to eating carrion. These are the only bees that do not feed on nectar and pollen.
Fact 3. In a large bee hive, up to 1000-2000 individuals can die per day for various reasons, which become victims of birds, spiders, bedbugs and other predators. But the queen bee compensates for these losses by producing up to 2000 eggs in the same time, from which new individuals hatch. By the way, all worker bees that collect nectar are exclusively females.
Fact 4. Unlike a wasp or a bumblebee, a bee usually dies after it stings someone. This is due to the fact that there are notches on the sting that make it difficult to remove it from the body of the victim after striking, so the insect, attacking, cripples itself. However, in some cases, he has a chance to survive if the sting comes out easily.
Fact 5. According to statistics, every year bees cause more deaths than poisonous snakes. This is not surprising, because the chances of being stung by a bee are much greater than being bitten by a snake, and for people allergic to bee venom, one sting can be fatal. Not to mention the fact that in high concentrations this poison is deadly even for an absolutely healthy person without any allergies.
Fact 6. Each bee family is a complex organization from a social point of view, completely independent of other hives. These insects cannot get into someone else's hive, since the entrance is always guarded, and guard bees let only their relatives through, focusing on the smell. The inhabitants of the same hive smell the same, since the same queen produces them all, under the same conditions.
Fact 7. There are about 21,000 species of bees in the world, and without these insects, the Earth would suffer an ecological disaster of unprecedented proportions, since they are the main pollinators of plants. And this is indeed a problem, as some insecticides used to spray crops poison the flowers, and, accordingly, the insects that collect nectar from them. All this affects the size of the bee population in the most negative way.
Fact 8. Immediately after birth, young honey bees are so weak that they are not capable of anything, they cannot even eat on their own. Adult individuals help them to survive, which at first feed the young, so that they quickly get stronger and join in the common work.
Fact 9. The number of honeybees in a hive can easily exceed a hundred thousand, but only in summer, and by winter it usually decreases by 3-5 times. The honey reserves they collect can feed a strictly defined population, and there is not enough food for everyone. Therefore, sterile workers sacrifice themselves and starve to death so that the hive can survive. They begin a lethal hunger strike well in advance, even before hunger sets in in the hive.
Fact 10. Male bees, whose entire function is to fertilize the queen bee, are called drones. During the only flight in the life of the queen bee, they surround her like a human shield to protect her from birds, and one of the drones eventually mates with her, dying as a result of mating. But after the honey harvesting period ends, all the drones are mercilessly expelled from the hives, and soon die of cold and hunger. In one hive, there are usually from several hundred to several thousand, that is, a small percentage.