19.07.2020: Animal of the week: Honey Bees

Hi everyone,

This week's animal is the honey bee. Enjoy!

General Information

An average honeybee hive is made up of one queen, hundreds of male drones and thousands of female workers. If the queen bee dies then a new queen is created. The workers select a young larva and feed it with a special food called ‘royal jelly’. The ‘royal jelly’ makes the larva grow into a fertile queen. Queens live for several years but the workers only live for five or six weeks. An average worker will make a twelfth of a tee spoon of honey during her entire life. Drones are turned out of the hive and left to die in Autumn. In the summer months, the queen bee is very busy, she can lay up to 2500 eggs in a single day.

How they affect the world around them

Honey bees are very important for flowers, fruit and vegetables. This comes from the fact that they are pollinators. They help the plants by transferring pollen between male and female parts, meaning the plants can grow seeds and fruits.

Human use

Honey bees actually make honey for food stores in the winter. However, we can take some of the honey because the hard-working workers make 2 or 3 times more honey than they actually need.

Dangers

Unfortunately, honey bees across the world are disappearing. The reason is unknown. Billions of honey bees across the world are leaving their hives and they never return.

We hoped you enjoyed the first animal of the week.

Image:

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Sources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/honeybee
https://www.britannica.com/animal/honeybee
https://animalcorner.org/animals/honey-bee/