What kind of existence is a bee?
Humans generally give them the label of: industrious, united, will pick pollen to make honey, have thorns on the body, and it is particularly painful to be pricked.
In fact, the bees in the real insect world are much richer than you know, they are very cute and friendly.
In order to make humans really friends with bees, the famous picture book author Bethany Barton has published a book - "Bugs Around You: Give Bees a Chance", next, take your baby and make friends with bees!
How many species of bees are there in this world that are worth loving? The answer is: about 25,000 species! These 25,000 species of bees are all small experts, and they have different operations just by taking the nesting thing.
For example, there is a kind of bee called melon bee, they will go out of the ordinary way and build their nests under the ground. Another type of eastern American wood bee will drill a few holes in the wood and build a nest in the wood to lay eggs.
There is also a species called the Yellow Spotted Wasp, which scrapes the villi from the plant to build a nest.
Such nesting personality bees, we are generally not easy to see, more well known, is the world's most common domestic bees - European honey bees.
The division of labor among European bees is clear, and the members are generally divided into queen bees, male bees and worker bees.
The name "queen" sounds cool, but in fact, its responsibility is very heavy, because there is only one queen in the whole bee colony.
It's not a queen, it's more of a breeding machine, and in order for the bee family to flourish, it has to shoulder all the reproductive tasks.
In contrast, the male bee's task seems to be a little easier. Male bees do not have shì needles and do not collect honey, they have one task - to find the queen bee, and then mate with the queen bee to maintain the number of members of the bee colony.
In a swarm, there are about 300 to 500 male bees, but the mission of male bees is not easier than that of queen bees, but don't think that they are idle and wandering brothers, in fact, their fate is quite tragic.
After successful mating with the queen bee, the male bees soon lose their use value and become a burden in the bee colony, and the worker bees will bite them to death or drive them out of the nest to die cold and starve, or throw them to the bottom of the hive and fence them up, not allowing them to come up to eat until they starve to death.
So in fact, these male bees are using their lives to maintain the reproduction of the entire bee colony, which can be said to be very dedicated and great.
The largest lineup in the bee colony is the worker bee we just mentioned, which is about 30,000 to 80,000. Worker bees are small, not responsible for succession, have stinging needles on their bodies, and their task is two words - work.
The work they have to do is too much and too complicated! Nectar, pollen and water are collected to make honey, feed the larvae of the bee colony, and also build nests and defend the bee colony.
In addition, they also have to prepare special food for the queen bee, so that the queen bee can better reproduce and so on, which is really a bit like our human domestic service, everything is detailed, all-encompassing, and can be called a model worker in the bee colony.
Worker bees also have a task, which is the sting (zhē) people. However, people are not born aggressive, and the reason they sting people is often out of self-defense, after all, they are very small, and they are afraid of being crushed or trampled to death.
And many bees will lose their stings after stinging people, just like we lose our hands, and the loss is also very heavy.
What if we encounter a stinging bee? Don't be too nervous, just blow at the bees and you can dispel them.
But be careful not to make other movements and not to blow too hard, otherwise they will think that you are harassing them and will attack.
In bees, in addition to the self-defending stinger on their tails, other parts of their bodies are also very unique.
We look down from above, first of all, a bee has five eyes, yes you heard it right, they have three tiny single eyes with only one lens inside; and two large compound eyes with thousands of lenses on them.
As flying insects, they have four wings. When flying, the front and back wings of the same side are connected together, and when they stop, they will separate the wings and fold them behind them.
They also have two stomachs, not because of the large amount of food, but different functions, one is called "honey stomach", also called "honey sac", where nectar will be converted into honey; the other is called "stomach sac", which is used to digest nectar.
In addition, bees have six legs, and on their hind legs, there is a "pollen basket", this "basket", which can almost store millions of grains of pollen, really all over the body, are born for picking nectar.
Bees are a very ancient animal, scientists have long ago found millions of years ago bee fossils, that is, these small insects, as early as the age of dinosaurs.
Even in ancient Egypt, people have begun to raise bees, people have found honey in the pyramids, scientists say that these honey can still be eaten, it is really born with preservatives!
So, how is this rare non-perishable food in the world made? Next, let's take a look at how a bee makes honey.
First, bees collect nectar from the flowers and suck it into their honey sac, the stomach that specializes in processing honey.
This is not enough, they will also pass the nectar in pairs, and one bee spits the nectar into the mouth of the other bee, using their respective honey sacs to break down the sugar in the nectar. After passing through several bees, the nectar is gradually processed into honey.
Next, the bees will spit the processed honey into the hive, flap their wings vigorously to evaporate the moisture of the honey, and finally, the honey will be sealed with beeswax and will not be opened until it is eaten.
Because bees are small, thousands of bees need to collect two million flowers to produce a pound, or about 0.45 kilograms of honey.
All we have just said is that bees are representatives of industriousness, and how difficult it is to think about how difficult it is for them to make honey.
Bees are not just masters of honey making, they also help pollinate fruits and vegetables. It can be said that one-third of the vegetables and fruits we humans eat are inseparable from the pollination of bees.
We all know that pollen is essential for plants to bear fruit. However, since the flowers cannot move, they cannot get pollen from other flowers.
At this time, the bees become great transmitters, using their furry bodies, dipping pollen on the flowers, and then bringing the pollen to another flower, so that the plant successfully pollinates.
A single bee can collect more than a thousand flowers a day, and these flowers can produce healthier and more delicious fruits with bees.
In other words, without bees, we humans wouldn't have as many delicious things to eat, and look how much bees play a role in the entire food chain!
Bees have given us so much help, in fact, they also need our help. Now that their numbers are dwindling dramatically, we really should do something about them.
If you want to make bees happier, in fact, as long as you do it to take care of the environment, healthy growing plants are the most popular bees to see.
In addition, you can also choose some flowers that bees like, such as herbs, cornflowers, asters, etc., which are all good ways to increase the number of bees.
Okay, the story of the bee is over, and now, are you still so afraid of the bees? Fear means that we know too little about them.
Flipping through this book, let's re-acquaint ourselves with cute bees and do something for them. This is a chance for the bees and a chance for ourselves.
(Picture from the Internet)