What does forest honey really consist of and how much sleep does a bee need every day?
We reveal five bizarre facts about the buzzing insects.
Munich – There are around 20,000 different bee species worldwide, nine of which are known honey bee species.
In Germany alone there are over 560 wild bee species, more than half of which are threatened with extinction.
On the one hand, this is due to climate change, but on the other hand, it is also due to the high use of pesticides and the destruction of their habitat by humans.
The honey bee in particular could hardly exist today without beekeepers.
Fortunately, more and more people in this country are interested in bee protection and more and more are discovering their love for beekeeping.
But there's a lot more to know about buzzing insects than pollinating plants and producing honey.
We'll tell you five quirky and exciting facts about bees that you probably haven't heard of.
Bees only sleep ten minutes a day - five bizarre facts
+
Honey bees put their heads in a comb to sleep.
(icon picture)
© Imagebroker/Imago
It sounds crazy, but it's actually true.
The hard-working honey bees only sleep 10 to 15 minutes a day.
That's enough for them to do their job for a day.
And that's not the only unusual thing about her sleep pattern.
In order to slumber in the beehive, the insects put their heads in a honeycomb and let their little legs hang down.
Because film footage shows that the little legs twitch during sleep, it is assumed that bees even dream.
Forest honey is made from aphid secretion - five bizarre facts
Some honey is made by bees not from the nectar of flowers, but from the excrement of aphids.
Anyone who finds this disgusting should keep their hands off forest honey in the future.
Because that is exactly what is obtained from the secretions of the aphids.
But why do the bees do this at all?
Because aphid excretion is very similar to nectar in consistency, the bees cannot tell the difference, so they collect it and process it into honey.
Since it is not obtained from flowers in the classic way, forest honey cannot be called blossom honey.
Bees have their own air conditioning - five bizarre facts
The temperature in the hive should always be between 20 and 30 degrees.
When it gets too hot in summer, the bees turn on their own air conditioning, because the right temperature is particularly important for the offspring.
They gather in front of the entrance to the nest and use their wings to fan the warm air out of the hive - they become a kind of living fan.
It has also been observed that they spray the combs and the fanning bees in the hive with water in order to provide additional cooling through evaporation.
Five bizarre facts about bees – when they smoke, they “pack their bags”
Beekeepers distract their colonies with smoke while doing their jobs.
The smoke is intended to distract the animals.
Because if there is smoke, the bees sense danger from fire in the hive, which in turn means that they want to quickly collect supplies before they flee.
Each animal soaks itself full of honey so that the colony can then fly out together and look for a new place to stay.
Therefore, when there is smoke, the bees all sit on the honeycomb and a beekeeper can work undisturbed.
Five Weird Facts About Bees - Drones only have one purpose
The male bees, also called drones, only exist to fertilize the queen.
Having served this purpose, they die instantly as their penis gets stuck in the queen and rips off.
If they fail, they are also sentenced to death.
Because if they return to the beehive after the nuptial flight without success, they will no longer be fed there.
Male bees cannot gather food themselves, so sooner or later they die.
List of rubrics: © Imagebroker/Imago