Fun facts about bees

Author: Laura McKinney
Date Of Creation: 9 August 2021
Update Date: 1 November 2024
Anonim
Fascinating Bees Facts
Video: Fascinating Bees Facts

Content

bees belong to the order Hymenoptera, which belongs to the class Insecta of the subphylum of hexapods. Are classified as social insects, for individuals are grouped in hives forming a kind of society in which they can differentiate several castes, each one of them playing an important role in the survival of the swarm. That's why we can differentiate the queen bee, the drones and the worker bees.

Although they look like simple insects, the world of bees is very complex and surprising. They have behaviors and ways of life that we would never imagine in such a small animal. Therefore, in this post by PeritoAnimal we list 15 fun facts about bees absolutely amazing about their anatomy, feeding, reproduction, communication and defense. Good reading!


all about bees

Although bees follow a basic physical pattern that usually consists of dark colors with yellow stripes on the body, it is certain that the its structure and appearance may vary. depending on the species of bee. However, within the same species it is also possible to observe some differences between the queen bee, drones and worker bees:

  • BeeQueen: it is the only fertile female of the hive, which is why the most outstanding feature of the queen bee is its ovarian structure, which makes it biggest bee. In addition, it has longer legs and a longer abdomen than the worker bees that inhabit the hive. His eyes, however, are smaller.
  • drones: are males whose only function in the hive is reproduction with the queen bee to produce offspring. Unlike the latter and worker bees, drones have larger rectangular bodies, more corpulent and heavier. Furthermore, they lack a stinger and have significantly larger eyes.
  • worker bees: they are the only infertile female bees in the hive, as a result of which their reproductive apparatus is atrophied or poorly developed. Its abdomen is shorter and narrower and, unlike the queen bee, its wings span the entire length of the body.The function of worker bees is to collect the pollen and the manufacture of food, construction and protection of the hive and the care of the specimens that make up the swarm.

bee feeding

These insects feed mainly on honey, a source of sugars needed by bees and made from the nectar of flowers that they absorb with their long tongues to digest it in their corresponding hives. The flowers that recur can be varied, but it is common to find them feeding on those that have the most showy colors, such as the case of the daisy. By the way, did you know that a single bee can visit up to 2000 flowers in the same day? Curious, isn't it?


They also feed on pollen, as in addition to providing sugars, proteins and essential vitamins such as those in group B, they allow the development of glands that produce Royal jelly. And here another curiosity about bees, the royal jelly is the queen bee exclusive food and of young workers, as it is capable of producing adipose bodies during the winter so that they can survive the cold.

From the sugars provided by honey and pollen, bees can make wax, which is also important to seal the cells of the hive. Without a doubt, the entire food manufacturing process is amazing and very curious.

bee reproduction

If you've ever wondered how bees reproduce, you should know that the queen bee is the only fertile female of the hive. That's why the queen is the only one able to reproduce with the drones resulting in fertilized females. With regard to male descent, another of the most curious data about bees is that drones emerge from eggs without fertilizing. Only in case of death or disappearance of the queen, worker bees can perform the reproductive function.


Now, not only the birth of females and males is curious, since the process that involves reproduction is also another of the bees' curiosities. When it is time for reproduction, which normally takes place during spring, the queen bee secretes pheromones to attract and communicate their fertility to the drones. After this happens the nuptial flight or fertilization flight, which consists of a coupling in the air between them, during which the sperm are transferred from the drone copulatory organ to the sperm library, the queen bee's deposit. A few days after fertilization, the queen bee starts laying thousands of eggs from which male bee larvae (if not fertilized) or female bee larvae will hatch. Other interesting facts are:

  • The queen bee is able to put up to 1500 eggs a day, I knew that?
  • The queen has the ability to store sperm from different drones to lay eggs over a period of three weeks, about. So, considering the daily amount of eggs you lay, can you imagine the speed at which a hive develops?

Curiosities about bees and their behavior

In addition to using pheromones to reproduce, they also play an important role in bee communication and behavior. Thus, depending on the pheromone secreted, they can know if there is a danger near the hive or if they are in a place rich in food and water, among others. However, to communicate, they also use body movements or displacements, as if it were a dance, following a pattern determined and understood by them. I could see that the bees are surprisingly intelligent animals, as well as other social insects such as ants, for example.

In terms of behavior, the importance of the defensive instinct is also observed. When they feel threatened, worker bees protect the hive using the poisonous saw-shaped stingers. When removing the stinger from the skin of the animal or person who stung, the bee dies, since the sawn structure is detached from the body, tearing the belly and causing the death of the insect.

Other fun facts about bees

Now that you know some of the most important fun facts about bees, it's worth paying attention to this data:

  • They exist more than 20,000 species of bee in the world.
  • Although most of them are diurnal, certain species have an exceptional night view.
  • They are distributed practically all over the world, with the exception of Antarctica.
  • Can produce propolis, a substance obtained from the mixture of sap and tree buds. Along with the wax, it serves to caulk the hive.
  • Not all bee species are capable of producing honey from flower nectar.
  • Your two eyes are made up of thousands of eyes minors called ommatidia. These transform light into electrical signals, which are interpreted and transformed into images by the brain.
  • THE bee proclamationQueen, happens after a fight between 3 or 5 candidate bees created by worker bees for this purpose. The winner of the fight is the one who proclaims herself queen in the hive.
  • A queen bee can live to be 3 or 4 years old, if conditions are favorable. Worker bees, in turn, live between one and four months, depending on the season.

What did you think of the fun facts about bees? Already knew? Tell us in the comments!