Bees: the great deeds of a small animal

The fact that the conservation of bees and the associated biodiversity in general must have the highest priority is not least due to the following reason: Around 75 percent of the world's food crops are dependent on pollination by bees. On the occasion of “World Bee Day”, an Austrian honey manufacturer, among others, draws attention to this.

The work of the busy bees can hardly be replaced. The bees have to fly to around 10 million flowers to produce one kilogram of honey. These are pollinated with every approach. A colony of bees covers around 500 kilometers for the classic 120.000 gram honey jar. That corresponds to three times circumnavigating the earth. According to the manufacturer, around 20.000 bees are used to produce 500 grams of honey.

Also interesting: female honey bees are on average 12 to 14 millimeters in size and weigh around 82 milligrams. Drones are heavier and can weigh up to 250 milligrams. This can only be surpassed by the queen, which can be 20 to 25 millimeters long and between 180 and 300 milligrams in weight.

However, experts warn against too much hobby beekeeping, because the honey bees dispute the endangered wild bees for their food. Incidentally, wild bees particularly like to fly to herbs such as thyme and sage.

Photo by Damien Tupinier on Unsplash