| Copyright (c) 2008 Ruth Tan | | | | 14. The queen bee lives for about 2-3 years and is the |
| I think we should get ourselves some honey bee facts, | | | | only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the |
| after all so many healing and health-promoting | | | | summer months, when the hive needs to be at its |
| opportunities for the humans begin with this little busy | | | | maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day. |
| creature. As you read the following 20 honey bee | | | | Click here to learn more about the Honey Bee Life |
| facts, you will be so intrigued just like me by this | | | | Cycle, |
| teensy-weensy fellow's extraordinary abilities. | | | | 15. The male honey bees are called drones, and they |
| 1. The honey bee has been around for 30 million years. | | | | do no work at all, have no stinger, all they do is mating. |
| 2. It is the only insect that produces food eaten by | | | | 16. Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for |
| man. | | | | members' identification. |
| 3. Honey bees are environmentally friendly and are | | | | 17. Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel |
| critical as pollinators. | | | | threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have |
| 4. They are insects whcih are scientifically known as | | | | a stinger, but don't leave the hive to help defend it. |
| Apis mellifera. | | | | 18. It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are |
| 5. They have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes made up of | | | | required to be fatal. |
| thousands of tiny lenses (one on each side of the | | | | 19. Honey bees communicate with one another by |
| head), 3 simple eyes on the top of the head, 2 wings, a | | | | "dancing". |
| nectar pouch, and a stomach. | | | | 20. During winter, honey bees feed on the honey they |
| 6. The honeybee's wings stroke 11,400 times in a | | | | collected during the warmer months. They form a tight |
| minute, thus producing their unique buzz. | | | | cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves |
| 7. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast | | | | warm. |
| as 15 miles per hour, hence it would have to fly around | | | | Of these honey bee facts, No 19: Honey bees |
| 90,000 miles - three times around the globe - to make | | | | communicate with one another by "dancing" is perhaps |
| one pound of honey. | | | | the most memorable. And the most incredible to me is |
| 8. The average honey bee will actually make only one | | | | No 2: It is the only insect that produces edible food for |
| twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. | | | | man! The more I learnt about honey's great creator |
| 9. It takes about 556 workers to gather 1 pound of | | | | -the honey bee itself, its highly organized society, how it |
| honey from about 2 million flowers. | | | | acts with such intricate cooperation, and the various |
| 10. It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight | | | | bee products, the more I admire and respect this |
| around the world. | | | | amazing creature. It is no wonder why sometimes the |
| 11. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a | | | | colony is called a superorganism. |
| collection trip. | | | | "Unique among all God's creatures, only the honeybee |
| 12. A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 | | | | improves the environment and preys not on any other |
| honeybees and one queen. | | | | species." ~ Royden Brown |
| 13. Worker honey bees are female, live 6 to 8 weeks | | | | "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, |
| and do all the work. | | | | man would have no more than four years to live? |