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Honeybee Waggle Dance, courtesy of Sinankosak |
Fifty million years ago, flowering plants first appeared on Earth. With the arrival of flowers came the arrival of bees. The vast majority of bee fossils are found in amber - dating back to the Cretaceous Period. Bees were trapped while they were collecting resin for their nests, and were fossilized. |
"When the sun weeps a second time, and water falls from his eyes, it is changed into working bees; they work in the flowers of each kind, and honey and wax are produced instead of water" 21st Dynasty Egypt 1000 BC |
BEE-KEEPING Cave drawings found in Spain, dating back to 7000 B.C., show people gathering honey. Egyptian tombs 6000 years ago illustrate the keeping of bees. |
This picture from the tomb of Pabasa, 7th century BC shows stacked clay cylindrical hives. Today bees are migrated to California to pollinate almond crops. Apiarists in ancient Egypt loaded their hives onto boats and shipped them up the Nile River to pollinate northern regions. |
There are 20,000 species of bees today, in every continent except Antartica. Honeybees pollinate 80% of the fruit and vegetable crops in America. A single bee colony can produce up to 100 pounds of honey per year! |
Honeybees perform a dance when returning to their hive which indicates to their hive mates both the distance and the direction to the food source they have found. |
Royal Jelly is a secretion from glands on the top of nurse bees' heads. It is the food given to all the young larvae in the hive, and the one specific food given for the entire life period of the Queen Bee. During the three days that the worker bee larvae are fed on royal jelly, their weight multiplies by 250 times! Studies have shown that Royal Jelly has indicated effectiveness in treating the following ailments: |
Stomach Ulcers Sexual Rejuvenation Pancreatitis Hepatitis Asthma Skin Disorders Bone Healing Stress Reversal of the ageing process |
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man"... Albert Einstein |
Colony Collapse Disorder was first recognized in the U.S. in 2006. Honeybees are disappearing. They leave the hive and do not return. This phenomenom has been attributed to everything from cellphone use to Divine Rapture! |
To learn more about CCD or if you would like to offer support, here are some links: |
Ten Things You Can Do To Help Save The Bees |
Help The Honey Bees |
This "Save The Bees" Poster is available at Zazzle Shop (click image for purchase information). All royalties from this sale will be donated to the PAT (Pollinator Action Team). |
The Department of Biology of San Francisco State University is asking for participants in "The Great Sunflower Project". They are collecting data on bee populations in urban environments with the hope to develop strategies to support bees. Participants are asked to grow a Lemon Queen Sunflower and record observations of bee visits. |
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