The first of the bee facts we must accept regarding bees is that our food industry would collapse without them. Bees are responsible for pollinating one in three mouthfuls of your food – replacing them would be impossible.
Harmful pesticides have caused a massive decline in bee populations worldwide, meaning they need help. If you see a bee on the floor, pick it up and place the bee on a nearby flower. Soak some sponge in sugar water and offer it to the bee if possible. Doing so will give the bee the energy to return to the hive.
Table of contents
- What do bees do?
- What do bees eat?
- How do bees make honey?
- What do bees use honey for?
- How long do bees live?
- Do bees have knees?
- Where do bees live?
- What happens when a queen bee dies?
- Do bees sleep?
- What would happen if bees went extinct?
- How many types of bees are there?
What do bees do?
The fact is there are many types of bees, some of which live in hives, but there are also solitary species. Honey bees are the only species to produce honey. Still, all bee species are excellent pollinators and should be cared for just as much. In short bees:
- Pollinate our flowers and food
- Produce honey
- Create Beeswax
- Secrete ‘Royal Jelly’
What do bees eat
A bee’s diet consists of two things:
- Nectar – Contains sugars used for energy and to make honey
- Pollen – Provides protein and nutrients
The pollination of plants is a by-product of bees’ feeding, which has resulted in a relationship that has evolved.
How do bees make honey?
Bees make honey using the nectar collected from flowers. Honey bees are the only bees to create honey, which they achieve by:
- Bees store the nectar in the honeycomb, which then heats up due to the honeycomb shape and from the fanning of the bees’ wings.
- As the nectar heats up, the moisture evaporates, reducing the nectar and breaking it down into sugars.
- As the moisture evaporates, it thickens into honey.
What do bees use honey for?
Bees make honey as a reserve food for when no flowers are around. Just like humans, bees use sugars to preserve their food. Nectar would ferment if bees did not heat up, reducing the nectar into honey.
Fermentation is a process that uses up sugar. Therefore, once nectar has naturally fermented, it is useless for the bees as a stored energy source. So they turn it into honey for storage.
How long do bees live?
Different bees live a different amount of time. For bees that live in hives, you have Queen bees, worker bees and male or drone bees, each with its lifespan.
Solitary species have very different life cycles and vary significantly in length.
For more information about how long bees live, check out this extensive article about how long bees live by buzzaboutbees.net
Do bees have knees?
If you are reading this, you have likely heard the famous turn of phrase ‘it’s the bee’s knees’ to describe something that awards merit. But it can leave you wondering, why ‘bee’s knees’ and do bees have knees?
In short – No, bees do not have knees.
Sorry to say that, but not surprisingly, a bee’s leg evolved differently than a human’s. A bee leg separates into six sections via simple ball and socket joints that don’t have a knee cap.
For a more in-depth look into ‘Do bees have knees’, check out the article on livescience.com.
Where do bees live?
Bees live in little houses at the feet of toadstool mushrooms! Just kidding (obviously), bee species live in different ways depending on what type of bee they are:
- Bumble bees – Hives
- Honey bees – Hives (With honey!)
- Solitary bees – have a variety of inventive ways to live, like the miner bee who digs a hole to live in!
How many wings does a bee have?
Have you ever noticed that you can tell the difference between a fly and a bee’s buzz’ as they fly? The extra noise is because bees have evolved to have four wings, which make more noise than a fly’s two measly wings.
Bees are heavier than flies and sometimes have lots of pollen on their furry legs. Four wings give them the extra lift to carry the extra weight, although chonky bumble bees still struggle!
What happens when a queen bee dies?
If a Queen reaches her demise whilst the colony is alive, bees will begin to select larvae fit for the job and raise them with the royal jelly.
When or if more than one queen reaches maturity, they will battle it out using their drone(male) bees.
The winner is the new queen, and the hive will return to normal. It’s pretty medieval and fascinating.
Do bees sleep?
Yes, bees sleep. Like most living things, a bee needs rest. A honey bee will sleep from five to eight hours, and you might even find a solitary species asleep in a flower – cute.
What would happen if bees went extinct?
If bees went extinct, our food chain would be in real danger. It could even collapse. Bees are responsible for pollinating one in three mouthfuls of food and not just honey bees. All bees are pollinators as they feed on pollen and nectar. They pollinate whilst they eat.
To replace the role bees play on this planet would cost billions and require massive amounts of human resources. Even with technology, there is no replacement for the humble bee.
For more on bees and our ecosystem, check out our article – Are bees important?
How many types of bees are there?
The fact that bees have evolved to survive all over the planet means that many species exist. Science is constantly discovering new species, but the current count is around twenty thousand species of bees.
In the UK, there are 250 different species of bee.
Summary
I hope you have learned something about bee facts from this article. In summary, we have learned:
- What bees do with their days
- The things bees eat
- How honey bees produce honey
- What bees use honey for
- How long do bees live for
- Whether or not bees have knees
- Where different bees live
- The amount of wings a bee has
- How bees react when a queen dies
- Do bees sleep
- What would we do without bees
- How many bee species are there
