No one wants to get stung by a bee — least of all people who are allergic to bee stings — but understanding the activities and purpose of bees can help put that fear in perspective.
First off, what you might think of as bees are often yellow jackets. Unlike bees, yellow jackets can be aggressive, and since they eat insects and fruit, are also attracted to humans and our food, especially in late summer/early fall when their own natural food sources are lower.
Domesticated European (aka, western) honey bees and bumble bees, on the other hand, are very focused on feeding on nectar and gathering pollen from flowers to feed their young. These bees only sting defensively, for example, if swatted, caught, or stepped on. If a honeybee stings you, it will be the last thing she does, because stinging you will cause her death. Bumble bees can sting multiple times but still reserve the act for extreme circumstances, like when their hives are threatened. Only female bees can sting.
Why are bees so important? Bees pollinate more than two-thirds of the world’s agricultural crops, making them responsible for about one-third of the food and beverages that we consume, which translates into a contribution to the global economy of hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Likewise, bees pollinate an enormous proportion of wild flowering plants, which provide food and shelter for numerous other species. In short, bees are absolutely vital to agriculture and the health of the environment.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!