6 Things You Didn't Know About Bees

bees are very special animals. They live in a very complex structure made up of wax honeycombs which takes the name of beehive . The operation of the entire structure is very complex and fascinating. Think you know everything about the world of bees ? Let's find out some curiosities about these interesting animals that never cease to surprise us.

Bees live in very large swarms but there are exceptions

Bees are social animals. This means that they are predisposed to group life and to take care of each other. In fact, bees live in very numerous swarms. Their strength is given by a solid and strong mutual collaboration. Their interlocking of roles and tasks manages to create a perfect survival mechanism where there is no room for any error. The swarm constitutes a large group of bees that work in symbiosis for survival.

However, it is not uncommon to find some types of bees that live alone. In this case we are talking about solitary bees. In relation to these exceptions, however, we are not talking about Apis Mellifera but about other species of bees such as Osmie.

The queen bee is the only female that can reproduce

Although the hive is a perfect mechanism, the key to the operation of the whole machine is the queen bee . Being the only bee in the whole swarm that can reproduce, the queen lays her eggs ensuring the replacement of the bees.

Suffice it to say that the average duration of the life of a bee is about 40 days. Without the queen's industrial scale egg production , the swarm would lose consistency within a month or two and would not survive. The strength of a swarm is determined by the number of components. A strong swarm can count as many as 60,000 individuals. When the queen lays her eggs, she does it at an astounding pace. A queen bee in excellent health can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day!

Bees recognize and memorize predators

Bees are constantly engaged in defense of the hive . Their dedication to the family would also lead them to sacrifice themselves in order to protect their swarm and especially the queen bee. What leaves us speechless, however, is their ability to recognize predators and memorize their appearance.

Bees are able to recognize faces by identifying a combination of lines and shapes as a pattern that they can keep in memory and reuse later. If you have ever felt "chased" by a bee, most likely you are serious about getting too close to the hive and it is possible that the bee has identified you as a predator. In fact, bees rarely sting humans but become more aggressive near the hive as they are particularly reactive for the defense of their home and tend to feel threatened or in danger more easily.

Each bee family has its own smell

Another interesting curiosity is that each bee family has its own smell. It may seem strange but in reality it is. Not everyone is aware of it, but each colony has its own characteristic odor that allows the individuals that compose it to easily recognize each other and to exclude any unwelcome visitors.

For one kg of honey, you need millions of flowers

Behind the production of honey there is an immense work by bees that never really stop. Their operation reaches unthinkable rates. Bees produce honey as a food supply for the colder seasons. In fact, honey is nothing more than a collection of pollen and nectar produced by bees in the form of gelatinous liquid to ensure proper conservation over time. Nectar is a substance very rich in water. To preserve it without creating mold, the bees ensure that the water contained within it evaporates completely. To do this, they join together and flap their wings creating a sort of ventilation mixed with the heat of their body that allows you to achieve the final result. After this process, in fact, honey has a dense and viscous shape. However, not everyone knows that for the production of one kg of honey , an unimaginable quantity of flowers is needed, almost 2,700,000.

Only females have a stinger

Only hive females are able to sting. The sting is in fact a purely female organ. The queen's sting is used as a breeding tool to lay fertilized eggs in cells, while that of the worker bees is used as a defense tool to protect themselves. Drones (or hive males) do not have a sting, which means that they are unable to sting and defend themselves.

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