6 surprising things about bees on World Bee Day



There are many reasons to adore bees.

As they transfer pollen from plant to plant, pollinating more than a hundred fruits and vegetables including strawberries, potatoes, and apples, they are essential to the growth of many of our favorite and healthiest foods.

Although there are things you can do to help them grow, many bee species are unfortunately in danger due to changes in land use, pesticides, intensive agriculture, and climate change.

Here are six interesting facts about nature's busiest pollinators that you might not be aware of in honor of World Bee Day on May 20.

1. Bees like doing the "waggle dance"

Bees use dance to communicate and make choices.

A honeybee does a waggle dance to promote and argue the merits of a new nest as it searches it out and inspects it. The bee dances longer and more vigorously in better sites. If a different bee comes into contact with a dancing bee, she will fly out to investigate the area, and if she likes it, she will waggle as well.

About 20 to 30 bees eventually decide on the ideal nest location due to the dynamics of the waggle dance, and they let the rest of the swarm know by buzzing their wings and producing high-pitched noises.

2. Bees are tool users

Giant hornet species that feed on young bees and kill adults defending the nest pose a danger to honeybee populations in Vietnam and other regions of Asia. Vespa soror, a ravenous hornet species, may completely destroy a colony in a matter of hours.

The bees have been seen gathering recent animal waste and spreading it around the hive's entrance to fight off similar attacks. It is referred to as "fecal spotting" by the researchers, who published their results last year. The research team hypothesizes that the feces shortens the time predatory hornets, which are related to murder hornets, spend trying to penetrate the nest.

"Fecal spotting is exceptional for a number of reasons. It is the first time that honey bees of any species have been seen searching for substances that are not made from plants or liquids based on water. Additionally, it is the first blatant instance of honey bees employing a tool in the wild "Study findings

Honeybees can provide a terrifying warning sound when an assault is about to occur.

3. Bee crap almost led to a Cold War conflict

In the 1980s, it was believed that "yellow rain"—tiny yellow flecks observed on forest plants in Laos and Cambodia—was the byproduct of chemical weapons. Refugees said that the yellow rain led to disease and fatalities. The United States accused the Soviet Union and its allies of using chemical weapons as a result of the claims.

Later, bee specialists discovered that the yellow specks were the waste products of enormous swarms of wild honeybees.

4. Hungry bumblebees

In order to entice pollinators, plants create bright blooms that are rich in nectar, but what does an impatient, ravenous bumblebee do when those flowers haven't yet bloomed?

Scientists in Switzerland and France discovered that bumblebee damage to tomato and mustard plant leaves when pollen is limited caused the plant to blossom up to 30 days earlier than unnibbled plants.

The pollen provides the bees with the protein they need to grow their larvae.

But as a result of the climate issue, temperatures are rising, causing bees to awaken earlier from their winter hibernation to discover that the food-producing flowers have not yet opened. Climate change has less of an impact on flowering time because it depends on light exposure. This leads to a mismatch that may deprive bees of food in the early spring.

5. Honeybees have been used for human exploitation for thousands of years.

A human being is shown getting honey from a ladder in a cave artwork in Spain that is estimated to be 8,000 years old. Bees were nurtured by early farmers 9,000 years ago, according to pottery fragments that still contain beeswax. Also discovered in Egyptian tombs is honey.

In a primitive diet with few sweet foods, honey was probably a rare pleasure, and it could have had therapeutic benefits. Beeswax might have been used as adhesive or to make pots waterproof.

Today, honey could provide those fighting antibiotic resistance new hope. It has organic antibiotics that can aid the body in fighting illness. The sticky material may be utilized in surgery, combat zones, and even our own homes if scientists can figure out how to make it simpler to apply to wounds.

6. A few bees consume meat

Most bee species eat pollen and nectar, but others have evolved to feast on meat, which they do instead of foraging in flower meadows.

Last year, researchers from the University of California-Riverside, Columbia University, and Cornell University discovered that vulture bees in Costa Rica have bellies full of acid-loving bacteria similar to those found in hyenas and other animals that consume carrion.

For their study, they hung 16 traps from branches approximately 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) above the ground, each baited with 50 grams (1.8 ounces) of raw chicken. Vulture bees consume meat, yet their honey is still delicious and appetizing, according to the study.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Nuclear War Could Starve Billions, But One Country May Be Safer Than The Rest

Image
It all begins with a lone mushroom-shaped cloud that everyone had prayed would never appear again. Tit-for-tat attacks are sparked by retaliation, each of which aims to put an end to this most recent War of All Wars, until, around a week later, Earth starts to tremble under a veil of smoke and dust. Scenarios that map and estimate the destruction caused by a nuclear winter have existed since the Cold War dominated the evening news. Years later, we have a far better understanding of the more subtle consequences of airborne particles on our crops. And the numbers are still depressing. Six scenarios have been put up by a group of scientists from across the world using the most recent information on crop yields and fishery resources to approximate what food supplies may look like following a quickly intensifying nuclear battle between warring states. The death rate from a caloric scarcity problem alone might exterminate the majority of the world's population, leaving aside the immediat...
Read more

Plants Have Been Keeping a Secret From Us About How Thirsty They Actually Are

Image
Have you ever wondered why plants require water or how much water they actually need to grow? Plants require up to 300 grams of water to produce every gram of dry plant matter because they lose a lot of water when they absorb carbon dioxide from the environment. However, things don't have to be that way. In a recent research published in Nature Plants, we describe a natural trick that, in the long run, may be exploited to encourage plant growth while utilizing less water. a component that is necessary for plant development About 80% of the weight of plants is composed of water. Therefore, it stands to reason that plants would require around four grams of water for every gram of dry mass in order to hydrate themselves to their optimal levels. It might be the case, however they require much more water to flourish. A plant requires around 300 grams of water to create one gram of new dry mass. Why is there such a big discrepancy between how much water is needed for development and how ...
Read more

It Really Is in Your Head: Thinking Hard and Long Can Cause Brain Drain

Image
Wallace D. Wattles, an American author from the 19th century, reportedly remarked that "Thinking is the toughest and most demanding of all labor." On the surface, it would seem like a problematic comparison, but according to a recent research, thinking too hard or for too long can actually exhaust your brain, just like working out can. Hard physical work is undoubtedly exhausting, but a person's perspiration or trembling muscles reveal nothing about how hard they may be thinking. We just have to take people at their word when they claim they're psychologically worn out. As a result, researchers are still puzzled as to why sustained contemplation leads to cognitive weariness. It isn't really a feeling of being sleepy; rather, it is the impression that tasks are becoming more difficult to finish or to concentrate on. The brain's most prevalent excitatory neurotransmitter, according to some studies, may be to responsible for this lack of mental stamina. Despite b...
Read more