We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible. ~Vince Lombardi
Little known buzz about bees
Would it surprise you to hear that honey bees are not native to North America? Well, not unless you count that one bee fossil from 14 million years ago. Anyway, National Geographic’s Education Blog tells us that the Europeans brought them over in 1622, primarily to pollinate specific types of crops, such as melons and almonds. As with other flora and fauna imports, though, the impact on the environment wasn’t entirely positive. It isn’t as though there weren’t any pollinators here when they arrived. The issue is that the relative newcomers are competitors for the food supply. Anyway, here’s an abbreviated list of our homies, provided by Lease Honey:
- Sweat bees usually nest in the ground and are wildly diverse in their social behavior. They are among the most common on this continent. Not that my opinion matters, but I could have done without sweat bees, as they’re really annoying. That, and I don’t even know why they bother with me, as they’re attracted to perspiration and that isn’t much of a thing with me. Go figure.
- Bumble bees also nest in the ground, but they are social and live in colonies. They are essential to pollination of wildflowers, among others. They are big guys, too, growing to about 3/4″ long compared to a honey bee at 1/2″, per Western Pest Services.
- Long-horned bees is a species I’ve never heard of. They are so named because of the long antennae sported by the males. They also nest in the ground, but unlike the above species, they are solitary. They are specific in their pollination endeavors; they won’t pollinate just any flower. Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest’s site mentions that they prefer sunflowers, asters, and daisies.
- Miner bees, also known as chimney bees–and another new one on me–nest in the ground and are solitary. They grow to no more than about 2/3 of an inch and are generalists with regard to pollinating flowers.
Other fun facts are that solitary bees are less likely to attack since they have no hive to protect. Some bees, such as honey bees, can sting you only once, but bumble bees go for the gusto, and can sting multiple times.
How do these fuzzy, plump creatures fly?
In full disclosure, I will say that I have read more than one article about the process and watched multiple videos and I still don’t understand. When I look at a bee’s shape and consider that they may be toting about 35% of their body weight in pollen, creating lift with those gossamer wings seems impossible. But, as the quote suggests, they don’t know they can’t. Here’s the explanation from Arizona State.
Bees have two sets of wings, with the inner set smaller than the outer set. They are held together by comb-like teeth called hamuli. This structure provides the additional lift needed as the bees’ muscles cause the thorax to squeeze–both up and down and left and right. As described by the article, this is similar to the way we are able to breathe. Bees, however, use the rhythmic movement to create the back and forth, twisting and rotating, motion necessary to fly. Their wings move so rapidly, I couldn’t see the pattern even when I watched a slo-mo video to try to see how it works. Consider that honey bees move their wings over 230 times per second. That’s a lot of muscle power for wings that look as fragile as a soap bubble.
Don’t let my failure stop you from trying, though. Check out the video below to watch a bumblebee in motion.
I’m going to go off-topic for a minute to address the critical part bees play in our environment. While I know some of you are allergic to bees and fear them because of the possibility of asphyxiation, worst case, the human race would suffer without them. Here are some contributions they make, per The Woodland Trust:
- Bees pollinate crops
- Some crops feed humans
- Some crops feed livestock, also important to many humans for both dairy and meat products
- Bees pollinate wild flowers and wild trees.
- These provide food or shelter to other insects.
- These insects provide support to birds, bats and mammals.
And so it goes on up the food chain. I have read two opposing views on whether humans would survive without bees. The USDA* contends they are absolutely necessary, as 80% of the flowering plants require a pollinator to reproduce. The Woodland Trust, however, states that pollination can be done manually but would be prohibitively expensive. So there’s that. Our food supplies would suffer, best case.Â
*Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/simpletruthbrochure.pdf
So back to the topic at hand for a bit. Biologists seem to understand perfectly why bees can fly, even though that appears to be an impossible dream, on the face of it. But fly they do. Same for turkeys. Who would think their wings could lift up to 25 pounds? Wild turkeys can fly. Not only that, but they can achieve significant speed for short spurts. See this Birdfact article for fowl details and watch the video below for a laugh I couldn’t resist. 🙂
My point, and I do have one, is that we may not reach our full capabilities simply because we think we understand our limitations. Sometimes we put ourselves on the sidelines before we test our strengths. That’s the same self-fulfilling prophecy as I described in last week’s post. When we expect the worst–voila!–we find it.
Perhaps this means I should push myself to go farther than 10 steps on the Gatlinburg Skybridge. That’s a scary thought for me. Maybe I need to push the boundaries I’ve set for myself.
You?
The slo-mo video was amazing.
Thanks.
Glad you liked it. I’d like to see it at half that speed. Maybe then I would “get” it.
I love how you always find interesting topics to blog about. Topics I’ve never given a thought about but find very informative!
Well, it’s thanks to people like “you” who give me ideas. 😉
Great blog. Especially the description of some of our native bees.
Interesting fact: Male Honey bees have a Grandfather but no father.
Glad you liked the post. Next time I see you perhaps you can explain how the grandfather/no father works.
Very cool. We sure need the bees! SLOmo video is amazing!
It is amazing, but still too fast for me. I guess my eyes are too slow. Got nothin.’
Flying insects is not something I think much about. Up until just a few years ago every license plate in North Carolina said “first in flight”…….because two brothers from Ohio who owned a bicycle shop needed a big pile of sand to test their airplane concept in 1903. Now that is something that has always bothered me.
Well, we’ve already had different pain points. 😉