22 Incredible & Amazing Bee Facts

The bee is one of the most populous insects on Earth. Bees are all seen all over the world. In the daytime, bees fly to search and collect honey from flowers. Most bee species make a hive and live inside them in large numbers. They are considered one of the most intelligent insects. Bees help pollination. They are closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are warm zone insects, therefore not found in Antarctica. There are over 20,000 bee species.

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

- Albert Einstein

Bees are known to be highly social. As many as thousands of bees live all together from birth to death in a single colony. Some bee species are known to live solitary. Bees reproduce through eggs. Bee larvas are from eggs. The larvas evolve into complete winged bees with time. And the life circle goes on. Bees feed on pollen and honey. Baby bees usually eat honey at an early stage of life. They are then fed a mixture of pollen and honey. Bees tend to store food for the upcoming days. Beehives have complex features like temperature control, defense mechanism, social rankings, storing food, and raising the larvas. Honey bees usually make huge colonies near blossom fields.

Honey bees are considered the most important pollinator of nature. They are important for organic food production. Without bees, it is hard to imagine trees with flowers or even treas. Without the bees, there would be no fruit to harvest. Bees are considered the most important insect for life. Beekeeping is a profession for many people all over the world. These are some little known facts about bees:

Bees first appeared at least 100 million years ago. Archeological evidence suggests that they started living in colonies around 80 million years ago.

Bees are of many different species. There are over 20,000 species known to man. Most bee species are social.

Honey bees are the most common bee species among all bees. The European honey bee is now seen all over the world. These bees are also known as the western honey bees.

Wallace's giant bee (Megachile plutois) the largest bee species. These solitary bees can grow up to the length of 38 mm. Female bees of the species grow large jaws.

Honey bees are the only bees that die after the sting. Most bees don't die after the sting.

Bee venom contains a mixture composed of peptides, toxic proteins, and other bioactive components.

Queen bees have the longest lifespans. Queen bees live around 2-3 years. Every hive usually has only one queen. All other bees in the hive have the duty to keep her safe.

Drone bees are in the second position in a beehive hierarchy. Drone bees are male. They don't collect honey or pollen. The only duty of drones is to mate with the queen. They tend to live for 90 days. There can be as many as 2000 drones in a hive.

Most bees in a hive are worker bees. They are female bees. But these female bees can not lay eggs. They are the vital workforce of a beehive. Worker bees fulfill all duties from protecting the queen to collect honey and pollen in a beehive.

The Royal Jelly is a delicate secretion that is only served to queen bee larvas. All larvas are genetically identical. A larva grows as a queen if the royal jelly is offered to it.

There are mortuary bees among the worker bees. The sole duty of these bees is to bring all dead larvas and bees out of the hive.

Perdita minima is the smallest bee species. These bees are less than two millimeters in length. Perdita minima bees are solitary bees. They live in the deserts of North America.

Killer bees are the deadliest bees. These bees have caused the deaths of more than a thousand people worldwide. Killer bees are a hybrid of Western Honey Bee and East African lowland honey bee.

Research found that Honey bees can learn new patterns. The research also found that they have a robust and flexible working memory.

Bumblebees are not just large bees. They are one distinctive family of bees from the genus Bombus. These bees are the only extant group from their tribe Bombini.

Bumblebees make a nest on the ground. Their colonies are smaller than other honey bees. Bumblebee colonies consist of up to 20 bees.

The practice of beekeeping dates back at least 4,500 years. There are an estimated 115,000 – 125,000 beekeepers in the United States.

Bees have to fly 55,000 miles to make a pound of honey. Bees can fly several miles without landing.

Bees have to collect 10 pounds of pollen to make one pound of honey.

Honey bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey.

The average honey bee will actually make only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

There are approximately 2.7 million managed Honey Bee Hives in the USA.

Bees are important for our nature. U.S. National Agricultural Statistics show a honey bee decline from about 6 million hives in 1947 to 2.4 million hives in 2008, a 60 percent reduction. Pollinate 85% of all flowering plants. So it is important to keep bees safe for keeping our food chains running. May 20, is World Bee day. These are all we have about bees. Thanks for today.