13 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Bees!

Bees are both busy and mysterious creatures. How many of these 13 facts do you know about bees?

#1: The queen is not the ruler of the hive

Yes, that’s right. It’s not the queen who rules the hive.

Although she may seem to be the boss, in fact, she has a smaller brain than the worker bees and is little more than an egg-laying machine.

It’s the other bees who tell her what to do!

#2: Bees are NOT declining in Australia

Bees are in serious decline all over the world due to a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, or CCD. The likely culprit is the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, which sucks the bees’ blood and spreads disease. We are indeed lucky that Australia is the only continent (except Antarctica) to be free of this pest, and our bees are the healthiest in the world!

#3: Drones only get to have sex once

Male bees, or more correctly drones, hang out with the other guys at congregational sites, waiting for a queen to fly past. In a bizarre form of ‘speed dating’ multiple drones will end up mating with the queen, but as soon as they do it’s all over, because immediately after this ‘rough sex’ they will die!

#4: Not everyone loves bees

Apiphobia, also known as melissophobia, is an extreme fear of bees or bee stings.

For some people, this fear is justified because roughly 2% of the population is allergic to bee stings, and a single sting can lead to a trip straight to the hospital!

#5: Honey can be toxic

I’m not referring to the stuff that a big Aussie importer brings in from China!

Honey is full of fructose, and fructose malabsorption, formerly known as ‘dietary fructose intolerance’ (or DFI), is a digestive condition in which the normal absorption of fructose is impaired in the small intestine. This disorder was first identified in 1956.

#6: The origin of ‘bee’s knees’

The expression was coined in the 1920s by an American cartoonist named Tad Dorgan, who also graced the language with such corny epithets as ‘the cat’s pyjamas’, ‘the flea’s eyebrows’ and – a real clunker – ‘the canary’s tusks’!

#7: Crystallised honey has not gone off

In fact, honey is the only natural food for us humans that does not have a shelf life!

#8: Bees’ wings stroke faster than the engine of a Ferrari!

When a bee approaches, you hear the buzz of its four wings moving at around 11,400 strokes per minute. Bees can fly an average of 15 miles per hour.

#9: Bees have strict social order

Bees are working-class critters with a variety of occupations, including undertakers!
Undertakers are responsible for dragging their dead siblings from the hive.

#10: Bees can recognise a human face

If you do suffer from apiphobia, don’t be too hasty to swat that bee!

A honeybee brain has just a million neurons, compared with the 100 billion in a human brain.

However, researchers report that bees can recognise faces, and they even do so in the same way we do.

#11: Honeybees can calculate angles

Scientists have worked out that the bees’ waggle dance is all about transmitting precise spatial information regarding the location of foraging sites.

#12: Honey can sustain life

Honey is the only food that contains all the ingredients necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water.

It’s the only food to contain pinocembrin, an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning and with the potential to treat a variety of diseases.

#13: The bee’s brain is about the size of a sesame seed!

Yet, it has a remarkable capacity to learn and remember things and can make complex calculations based on distance and direction!

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We hope you found this article interesting and learnt something new about bees! If you want to try Australia’s best honey, pop into the Ben’s Bees shop and see our range of delicious and mouthwatering honeys.