Today we are celebrating the unsung, pollinating heroes of our planet — bees!
What bee-tter way to celebrate these remarkable insects than by highlighting the most buzz-worthy facts about one of the hardest-working, most-essential creatures on our planet. These are our favorite facts about bees:
Bee-autifully Diverse
- There are over 20,000 different bee species. Of these, the only domesticated kind are honey bee.
- Within this vast species count, is an incredible variety of bees — including the largest bee in the world, Wallace’s Giant Bee, over four times the size of a honey bee, and the Anthophora pueblo, which drills their nests into rock.
Unbee-livable Anatomies
- A honey bee’s sense of smell is 50 times more powerful than a dog’s (claimed to be 10,000 to 100,000 times more acute than humans).
- A bee tastes through its legs. Special receptors located on a bee’s legs allow them to taste both salty and sweet things; helping them detect nectar almost immediately.
- Bees have two stomachs — one for eating, the other for storing nectar — and five eyes. They can see ultraviolet light and are most attracted to shades of blue, purple and violet.
- A bee can fly up to 28 km/h (20 mph) when foraging for food. Despite their small size, a bee can beat its wings at a remarkable rate — 230 beats per second!
Busy Bee-havior
- There are two groups of bees — social bees (including honey bee and bumble bees) and solitary bees. Most wild bees, who don’t produce honey, are solitary.
- A common misconception is that bee colonies are monarchies. Rather, they are matriarchal societies, where the queen and worker bees, all females, make decisions.
- Depending on their role, some bees visit over 1,000 flowers and can work up to 12 hours a day. Because of that, bees may sleep up to eight hours a day, sometimes in flowers and with other bees. Younger bees may only sleep 90 minutes, take with 15-30 second catnaps throughout the day.
- Bees may be more complex and like us than we know. Groundbreaking studies indicate bumblebees enjoy the art of play for no other reason than for their own enjoyment.
Pollination Station
- Globally, bees contribute to one-third of the world’s food supply.
- We have honeybees to thank for almonds, apples, pumpkins, lemons, papaya, watermelon, and so much more. Take a look at what else they pollinate here.
For as mighty as bees are, many face a fragile future due to habitat destruction, pesticides, and climate change. This WORLD BEE DAY, help BIODIVERSITY by donating with VAKOVAKO — more than just bees depends on it.
