BEES There are around 20,000 known species of bees.
Live in colonies.
Are vegetarian wasps.
Have four wings.
Have five eyes.
There are three different types of bees in the colony:
* Queen Bee - only purpose is to lay eggs * Worker Bee - cleans the hive, collects the nectar and pollen and tend to the young * Drone Bee - only purpose is to mate with the Queen
Worker bees gather pollen and nectar from follows to feed the colony.
Makes honey by regurgitating the nectar into the mouths of other bees.
There are about 20,000 different bee species in the world.
Are very sociable.
See all the colours except for red.
Only female bees can sting.
Bumblebees stingers do not have barbs, so they can sting multiple times without injury to themselves.
Are the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
Under stress, they can also eat their own brood.
A honeycomb is built by honey bees in order to house their larvae and store honey and pollen .
Buzz in the key of A, but when tired, they buzz in the key of E.
A bee's buzz is not produced by the beating of its wings, but by vibrating its muscles.
Must visit 4,000 flowers in order to make one tablespoon of honey.
Are the only insect that produces a food for humans.
Honey never goes 'off'.
Bees can count up to four.
The average temperature of a beehive is the same as that of the human body.
Always know where the Sun is, even if it's on the other side of the world.
The most times a person has been stung by bees without dying is 2,443.
Can find the most efficient route between flowers faster than a super-computer.
Can fly higher than Mount Everest.
Queen bees lay eggs through their stings.
Only the Queen bumblebee survives the winter, so there is no need to store honey in the hive like honey bees do.
The most painful place to be stung by a bee is under the nostril.
Bumblebees stingers do not have barbs, so they can sting multiple times without injury to themselves.
Honeybees
Honeybees have a top speed of 15 miles per hour.
Honeybees will stop flying when temperatures dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. They huddle together in the centre of the hive making what is known as a 'winter cluster'. The queen is in the middle and the other rotate through the cluster making sure that no bee gets too cold. The centre of this cluster will be about 80 degrees and the outer edges will be between 46 - 48 degrees. The colder the weather, the tighter the cluster. The consume the honey stored in the hive to help maintain the essential body heat.
The first thing a Honeybee will do is to clean the place in which it was born.
Honeybees communicate by dancing.
If a Honeybee keeps 'waggle dancing' in favour of an unpopular nesting site, other workers will head-butt her to help the colony reach a consensus.
The Honeybee is taught by its elders how to make honey.
Honeybees have hairs on their eyes to help them collect pollen.
Worker Honeybees have 5,500 lenses in each eye.
Can flap their wings 200 times a second.
Can sting only once as barbs rip the stinger out of the bee and it will die.