Worker Bee Facts
There are three kinds of bees in a hive: – Queen, Worker and Drone. Worker bees are the most numerous members of the hive. A single hive can have around 4,000 worker bees. Their main task is to collect nectar and pollen and produce honey. They have various other jobs like cleaning, building new combs, taking care of baby bees etc. They use their tongue to suck water, honey and nectar. Average life span of a worker bee is between 4 to 6 weeks. It also depends on the season and the amount of work. The worker bee and queen both are female but only queen lays eggs. An average worker bee weighs around one tenth of a gram.
Fast Facts: –
- Bees are the only insects that produce food that is eaten by human beings.
- A worker bee generally travels up to 6 miles at a speed of 15 mph searching for the pollen and the nectar.
- A bee visits from 50 to 100 flowers during one single trip.
- Honey bees cannot see the colour red similar to other bees.
- They have five eyes. Three simple eyes are located on the top of their head and two compound eyes.
- Only worker bees and queen have stingers, drones do not. They use their stinger only when they are threatened and die immediately afterwards.
- Their brain is about the size of a tiny grain of sugar but they can understand conceptual relationships.
- They have been trained to act as bomb detectors as they can react to minute amounts of chemical found in explosives.
- They get rewarded with sugar water when they sense a particularly explosive compound correctly.
- Worker bees can detect changes in air pressure.
- They use their antenna to smell and can detect nectar two kilometres away.
