The Honey Bee
The bee is an insect that lives in almost every part of the
world except near the North and South poles. Bees are one of the
most useful of all insects. They produce honey, which people use as
food; and beeswax, which is used in such products as adhesives,
candles, and cosmetics. There are about 20,000 species (kinds) of
bees. Only the kinds known as honey bees make honey and wax in large
enough amounts to be used by people.
Flowers provide food for bees. The bees collect tiny grains of
pollen and a sweet liquid called nectar from the blossoms they visit.
They make honey from the nectar, and use both honey and pollen as
food. During their food-gathering flights, bees spread pollen from
one flower to another, thus pollinating (fertilizing) the plants they
visit. This enables the plants to reproduce. Many important food
crops, including fruits and vegetables, depend on bees for
fertilization.
Like most insects, bees have three pairs of legs and four wings.
They also have a special stomach, called a honey stomach, in which
they carry nectar. All female bees have a sting, which they use for
self-defense.
Honey bees and bumble bees are examples of social bees that live
and work together in large groups, or colonies.
HOMEPAGE *
SYMBOLS * HONEYBEE