Thanks to small but interesting creatures - bees, the process of pollination of most plants takes place. Arrange their lives in a truly surprising way: the bee family is strictly organized, all the work in the hive is done by working bees (they are females). There are about 200,000 honey insects in the world, and only 800 of them are public. With bees it is more or less clear, but what do beekeepers do?
A beekeeper is a person who is engaged in breeding and keeping bees. When we eat honey, we rarely think about how much effort it took to get it.
Beekeeping - the work is quite difficult, and sometimes requires complete dedication. You can study for this profession both in the secondary special educational institution and in higher education.
If you are here, then you are curious about this topic. We will not pull and immediately tell you about the 10 most interesting facts about bees for beekeepers. This is informative!
10. A bee will always find a way home
The answer to the question: "How do bees find their way home?"Is actually very simple, despite the fact that the bees are creatures amazing and unusual. When they fly home, they are guided by the polarization of light in the sky, according to the position of the Sun, the surrounding landscape.
In addition, for several days they remember the road to their hive. If the street is cloudy and poor visibility - the bee will still find a way home.
Interesting fact: it is believed that the older the bee - the greater the distance it can fly away and remember the way to its hive.
9. "Sealed" for the winter
From the name of the item, you might think that the bees themselves are somehow sealed, but it's a little different. In order for the bees to be healthy, strong and live long, the beekeeper must take care of their favorable wintering.
Many insects, unfortunately, do not survive the winter, so their hives are insulated. Wintering begins after the honey collection process - insects are “sealed” inside the hive. There they form dense tubers and, thanks to the heat, heat each other.
At low temperatures, bees become more active, so more food is consumed. It is these factors that determine the need to take care of the insulation of the hive.
8. Lift and carry weight 40 times their own
It’s hard to believe that these tiny creatures can carry weight 40 times their own! The insect has only 12-14 mm. in length and 5-6 in height. Its weight is (if measured on an empty stomach) about 1/10 grams.
Sometimes these wonderful creatures - bees, have to lift even more heaviness: when flying out of the hive with a corpse of a drone, the bee carries twice as much as it weighs.
The flight speed of the bees depends on the load with which they fly, on the strength of the wind and many other reasons. Interestingly, ants also have the ability to carry weight 40 times more than their own.
7. Egyptians - the first beekeepers
It was with the Egyptians that the domestication of winged toilers began. The ancient Egyptians were especially related to bees - they believed that the tears shed by the sun god Ra during the creation of the world turned into these insects. After that, the bees began to bring good luck, and, of course, honey and wax to their creator - the person who raised the bees. Figures of various pharaohs and gods were made from wax, using them as Voodoo dolls.
The Egyptians believed that through them it is possible to influence the gods and people. It is curious that the bee has become a symbol of the Egyptian goddess - Maat, personifying the Law of Universal Harmony. People believed that if you live according to the laws of the goddess, then you can find eternal life.
Beekeeping originated in ancient Egypt, according to archaeological excavations, 6000 years ago.
6. In ancient Egypt, honey was used for embalming.
And not only in Egypt. Honey was used to embalm corpses in Assyria and Ancient Greece.. The embalming process was carried out rather terribly: at first, the Egyptians removed the brain from the corpse of a person, removing it with an iron hook through the nose, followed by the pouring of liquid oil, which hardened there.
The oil consisted of beeswax, various vegetable oils and wood tar (the resin of conifers was brought from Palestine). The process did not end there - it included the cleansing of the body of other organs. After 40-50 days (during which time the corpse dried up) the body was rubbed with oil - it had the same composition that was used for pouring into the skull.
5. Worker bees have different lifespan
A bee is an insect with a short life span. You can’t say exactly how long she lives, because it depends on many factors.
For example, working bees are female creatures, due to physiological characteristics they do not have the ability to reproduce. The life span of such a bee is influenced by many factors: nutrition, climatic conditions (including during winter), etc. If an individual was born in the summer, then perhaps it will live 30 days. If in the fall - up to six months, and the spring lives about 35 days.
4. Most in the country honey is collected in Siberia
To the question: "Where is the best honey made? ” experts will answer that in Siberia - honey virgin lands of Russia. Today, beekeeping is well developed even in northern Siberia, not to mention areas with a warmer climate.
Beekeepers are constantly developing new techniques, thanks to which they receive a greater amount of honey, and, it must be said, of excellent quality. Siberian, Altai and Bashkir honey are recognized as the best in the world - the products collected in these parts are rich in healing composition and meet quality standards.
In Siberia, when the weather does not interfere, the honey conveyor operates without a break and the bees work tirelessly all season.
3. Richard the Lionheart used bees as a weapon
Bees, as a weapon, have been used since ancient times. At present, bees and other insects cannot be used as a type of biological weapon.
Even the ancient Greeks, Romans, as well as other peoples used vessels with bees to contain the onslaught of the enemy.
For example, soldiers from the army of Richard the Lionheart (English king - 1157-1199) threw vessels with bee swarms into the besieged fortress. Even armor (as you know, they were metal) could not save from angry bees, and it was impossible to control stung horses.
2. A bee swarm collects about 50 kg of pollen per season
Excert (1942) estimated that a full-fledged family collects about 55 kg of pollen in a year; according to Farrer (1978), a healthy and strong bee family collects about 57 kg. pollen per year, and research by S. Repisak (1971) suggests that in for one year, these tiny and wonderful insects collect up to 60 kg. flower pollen.
Interestingthat bees collect and carry pollen on the surface of their body.
1. To get 100 gr. honey bees need to fly around 2 million flowers
One bee during its short life will not be able to collect so much nectar to get 100 grams. honey (for her life she collects no more than 5 grams.) But if we are talking about the number of flowers in general, then to receive 1 kg. honey comes nectar with about 19 million flowers. On 100 gr. it turns out 1.9 million flowers.
It is noteworthy that one bee visits up to several thousand flowers a day, landing an average of 7000 flowers.