It’s hard to imagine that something so small can cause the death of a human, but people who are allergic to bees and other stinging insects can die when exposed to just one bite. In this article, you will learn interesting facts about stinging insects, including bees, honeybees, wasps, and hornets.
Bee Speed
On the average, a bee can fly 13 to 15 miles per hour.
Drunks
It is not uncommon to find wasps that have fed on ferment and have gotten drunk and ‘passed out.’
The Traveling Bee
In order to create 1 ounce of honey, a bee travels an average of 1,600 round trips at up to six miles per journey. If a bee were to produce 1 pound of honey, it would have to travel a distance equal to 2 times around our planet Earth.
Lots of Flowers
When making 1 pound of honey, honeybees will visit 2 million flowers to accomplish this goal.
Life Span
A bee’s life only lasts about 6 weeks during stretches of time involving honey production.
Hive Statistics
Just one beehive is home to about 40,000 to 45,000 busy little bees.
Taking Down a Tarantula
There is a species of wasp called the tarantula, which paralyzes a real tarantula and lays one egg on the creature , which is still alive. When the egg hatches, the larva has fresh food to eat.
Human Helpers
Honeybees are the only insects in the world known to produce food that humans eat.
Beeswax Stats
In the majority of beehives, the production of beeswax is about 1 ½ % to 2% of the total honey yield. In order to produce 1 pound of beeswax, the insects must eat about 8 pounds of honey.
High Temps
The average temperature of a beehive is 93.5 degrees.
Yellow Jacket Egg-Laying
When a female yellow jacket wasp lays eggs, she creates both fertilized and unfertilized eggs. It is from the fertilized egg that female workers are born, whereas the unfertilized egg is where male drones come from.
The Importance of the Queen
Queens are very important to the survival of a beehive. They lay nearly 2,000 eggs a day at a rate of 5 or 6 per minute. This means that each year, between 175,000 to 200,000 eggs are laid by the queen.
Drone Bee Duties
The sole responsibility of a drone bee is to mate with the queen bee.
Hairy Peepers
Honeybees actually have hair on their eyes.
Dancing Bees
One of the ways that bees communicate with other bees is through dance. They can alert other bees as to where to fly in order to find nectar and pollen. Their dances also indicate the proper direction and distance of the locations.
One Spoonful of Honey
If you are enjoying one teaspoon of honey, thank the 12 honeybees it took to produce it.
Busy Bee
In just one trip, a honeybee can pay a visit to about 75 flowers.
Sun Help
The sun acts like a compass for honeybees, which uses it to aid in their navigation.
Wings
Honeybees have four wings.