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Bee on a flower- Image by Mariya Muschard from

15 Things to know about Bees

Bees are quite an interesting breed of animal. I mean, just think of how they have a whole system that actually works. The fact that they have workers, soldiers then the queen herself never ceases to amaze me how brilliant these animals really are. I think they are even smarter than most human beings. No offence but just think if most of our countries were organized in workable systems like those of bees. I’m thinking of how far we would be. Like, the economy would thrive so well. There would be no such thing as corruption and animosity because greed and selfishness wouldn’t even be part of the picture given how bees are always working towards surviving, adopting a workable routine, ensuring that teamwork is working and also safeguarding the needs of everyone. No greed, no selfishness. Just a simple system that will benefit anyone who follows it. Anyway, what are some of the interesting things to know about bees? Here is a list.

1. Honey bees communicate through pheromones

Photo by Aaron Burden on

Pheromones are chemical substances that, when secreted by one animal (via the exocrine glands), serve to stimulate either a behavioural or physiological response from another animal of the same species.

For years, scientific research has investigated the use of pheromones in honey bee colonies as a means to further our understanding of the workings and organisation of this amazing and complex superorganism, comprising a queen, thousands of workers performing different tasks, drones and dependent brood.

2. Male honey bees die after mating

Photo by Carolina on

How crazy is that!!! Imagine dying after mating with your soulmate. Okay, I don’t know if bees have soulmates but this fact is really mind-blowing. Poor things! Dying without ever seeing their offspring.

3. Honey bees have to travel 55,000 miles just to produce a pound of honey

Photo by Damien TUPINIER on

Imagine that! Travelling miles and miles just to produce one pound of honey. And as if that’s not enough, they’ll have to visit 2 million flowers with about 500 bees working together to achieve this. This is because one bee can only produce a half teaspoon of honey. No wonder it takes these many bees to make a pound of honey. And no wonder they have to travel all these miles.

4. Honey bees eat nectar and pollen too

Bee on pollen- Photo by David Clode on

Honey bees eat nectar and pollen, but there are times when food is scarce, and they may eat insect secretions.  They are also known to eat a bit of fruit, such as plums and grapes.

5. Honey bees can live up to 4 years

Image by Terri Sharp from

The honey bee can actually live up to 4 years even though the expectancy is at 2 years. This is pretty impressive because other types of bees like drones can only live up to 55 days on average while the worker honey bees can only live up to 6 or 7 weeks.

6. Only female bees sting

Photo by Alexandre Debiève on

Did you know that it is only the female honey bees that sting? The male ones, also known as drones cannot be able to sting and if you were ever stung by a bee while just out in the fields, it was probably a worker bee. This is because the queen honey bee usually remains close to the hive so a sting from one is pretty rare. Unless of course, you’re somewhere near the hive.

7. When a queen bee is removed from the hive, within a few minutes, the rest of the bees in the colony know about it

Swarm of bees- Photo by Kostiantyn Li on

It’s pretty interesting how a colony of bees has a system that actually works. When a queen bee is removed from the hive, the rest of the colony that works towards ensuring that she is okay and everything in the system is working will actually notice. That’s why when at the hive you’ll notice a bit of an array of activities. Could be the moment the bees notice that something is off.

8. Drones have no father but do have a grandfather

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Wow! This just jumbled up my brain. I’m not sure how this really works but yeah! The male bees have no father but yet have a grandfather. What it means simply put is that the male honeybees have no father because their entire set of chromosomes comes only from their mother, who is the queen. However, they do have a grandfather, because the queen, obviously didn’t start to exist from nowhere. She was a result of a fertilized egg and a male definitely played a role.

9. A bee’s antennae have more than 300 sensors!

Bee using its antennae for pollination- Image by edmondlafoto from

Wow! The more I read about bees, the more fascinated I am becoming. A bee’s antennae are apparently very sensitive and important for tasting things. Its tips have more than 300 taste sensors and that is why they will never go wrong when it comes to scent.

10. The hexagon structure enables them to make efficient use of beeswax

A honey comb- Image by PollyDot from

Ever asked yourself why bees specifically use the hexagon structure for their honeycombs? Well, now we know why. It’s because it makes it very efficient for storing beeswax and also helps in ensuring that there is not much wastage.

11. The bee dance is very purposeful

Image by Thomas Schiewer from

You know that waggle dance a bee usually makes? Well, they are not doing that because they are really into it or just looking to have a good time. Rather, the dance usually enables honey bees to inform their sisters about the best locations for food, water or a new home. So really, it’s more a mode of communication for them.

12. Bees cannot see the colour red

Red wallpaper- Photo by Chaewon Lee on

If you ever lived on a farm, I’m pretty sure your grandparents or parents would always mention not wearing the colour red if you do not want to get stung. I always thought that was a total load of BS until I actually read about bees for this article. See, bees cannot see the colour red like for example red clothing, a red car etc. Ironically though,  they are able to visit red flowers as they are able to see the U.V patterns in the flower.

13. The brain of the bees is about the size of a grain of sugar

A grain of sugar (microscopic)- Image by Daniel Roberts from

I mean, bees are one of the smartest insects I have ever read about. You may think because of how smart they are, they definitely have a brain big enough to go with all that smartness. However, the brain of a bee is about the size of a tiny grain of sugar and researchers have argued, though it is small, it is surprisingly very sophisticated. For instance, they are able to understand conceptual relationships like same/different and /or above/below which typically rely on relationships between objects rather than just the physical features of objects.

14. They are better at learning new smells in the morning

Photo by Josephine Amalie Paysen on

Scientists have argued that scent is quite important to bees and that they are better at learning new smells in the morning. This could explain why in the morning when the grass dew is still wet, that’s when you come across so many bees. Especially if you live in the country where there are so many trees and just natural resources, this should be a common occurrence.

15. Bees are the most studied species in the world

Scientist in a lab- Image by Lucas Vasques from

It isn’t quite a surprise that bees are the most studied species in the world. I mean, they are very interesting to be quite honest. They are quite smart yet so tiny and so any scientist would want to know what exactly goes on in their little heads. Even psychologists have really used the analogy of bees to try and explain some of the psychological issues human beings typically face.