Honeybees account for about 80 percent of all insect pollination, so the term “busy bee” is highly accurate! In addition to what they do for agriculture, bees are pretty amazing insects.
Honeybees account for about 80 percent of all insect pollination, so the term “busy bee” is highly accurate! In addition to what they do for agriculture, bees are pretty amazing insects.
10 amazing facts about honeybees:
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- Honeybees are not native to the U.S. They were brought to the Americas by European settlers.
- Beekeeping and honey collection dates back to the Stone Age.
- The honeybee is the only insect that produces food also eaten by humans.
- Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it’s the only food that contains “pinocembrin”, an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.
- The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
- A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen. The queen bee can live 3 to 5 years. Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work. Drone bees are male and all they do is mate.
- Honeybees communicate with each other by “dancing.”
- The honey bee’s wings beat about 200 times per second, making the distinctive buzz sound. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.
- A hive of bees will fly a total of 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.
- Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting.
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