- There are over 4,000 species of native bees in the United States.
- Bees are related to the ant.
- Bees are the only insect in the world that make food that humans can eat.
- Nectar from about 2 million flowers makes 1 pound of honey.
- Honey has natural preservatives and bacteria can't grow in it.
- Honey was found in the tombs in Egypt and it was still edible!
- Bees can smell hundreds of floral varieties and identify pollen from miles away!
- A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.
- It only takes about 1 ounce of honey to fuel a bee to fly around the world
- The honey bee does not know how to pollinate tomato or eggplant flowers.
- Bees have two stomachs - one stomach for eating and the other is for storing nectar.
- Bees can better identify native plants as food sources than foreign plants.
- Every 3rd mouthful of food is produced by bees pollinating crops.
- Honey bees contribute over $14 billion to the value of U.S. crop production.
- U.S. honey bees also produce about $150 million in honey annually.
- Colony collapse disorder is partly responsible for the loss of some of our bees.
- Male drone bees don't have a stinger.
- If a worker bee uses her stinger, she will die.
- Swatting at bees causes them to release pheromones that call for more bees.
- Bees depend on flowers Spring, Summer, & Fall. When planning your gardens, be sure to include nectar sources for all seasons.
