Facts About Bees by Aiden Zylman
Bees pollinate up to 80 percent of plants, including more than 130 types of fruits and vegetables. In fact, bees pollinate around 5,000 flowers per day and about $15 billion worth of crops each year. Bees make anywhere from 25-100 pounds of honey each year.
You may think bees have only two eyes, but they actually have five! Bees have two big eyes on the sides of their head, while three smaller ones are at the top near their antennae on the center of their head. The three eyes on the top of their head detect light rather than shapes to see if predators are coming from above.
Bees dance to communicate with others. This form of communication is known as waggle dancing. When a worker bee returns to the hive, it will move to a figure of eight and wiggle its body to indicate the direction of a good food source.
If a queen bee in a hive were to die, bees would select larvae and feed them food known as royal jelly to make a new queen. The bees pick about 10-20 newly hatched female larvae to put on the strict royal jelly diet. The royal jelly interacts with the reproductive system of the larvae by flipping the reproductive system so the new queen can reproduce.
The queen bee is the only bee in the colony that reproduces. Queen bees lay up to 2,500 eggs in a single day! The queen is also the bee who fertilizes the eggs. The eggs that aren't fertilized become male bees, aka drones.
You may be wondering, “Is honeybee one word or two?” Well, here’s a bonus fact. According to dictionaries, honeybee is one word. However, according to entomologists, they use honey bee as two words. Both are correct. You can use the word honeybee as one word or two. It’s all up to you!
You may think bees have only two eyes, but they actually have five! Bees have two big eyes on the sides of their head, while three smaller ones are at the top near their antennae on the center of their head. The three eyes on the top of their head detect light rather than shapes to see if predators are coming from above.
Bees dance to communicate with others. This form of communication is known as waggle dancing. When a worker bee returns to the hive, it will move to a figure of eight and wiggle its body to indicate the direction of a good food source.
If a queen bee in a hive were to die, bees would select larvae and feed them food known as royal jelly to make a new queen. The bees pick about 10-20 newly hatched female larvae to put on the strict royal jelly diet. The royal jelly interacts with the reproductive system of the larvae by flipping the reproductive system so the new queen can reproduce.
The queen bee is the only bee in the colony that reproduces. Queen bees lay up to 2,500 eggs in a single day! The queen is also the bee who fertilizes the eggs. The eggs that aren't fertilized become male bees, aka drones.
You may be wondering, “Is honeybee one word or two?” Well, here’s a bonus fact. According to dictionaries, honeybee is one word. However, according to entomologists, they use honey bee as two words. Both are correct. You can use the word honeybee as one word or two. It’s all up to you!