Thursday, May 29, 2018 written and photographed by Mika Miller
Bees are buzzing into the Aquarium in our new exhibit, The Hive! To celebrate here are 10 un-BEE-lievable facts about bees.
1. Bees can recognize human faces!
2. A Honeybee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.
3. Honeybees give directions by dancing! This dance is called the “waggle dance” and lets other bees know where a food source is.
4. The Honeybee is the only insect that produces food eaten by humans.
5. Honey is made in part by bees regurgitating! A honeybee passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into another bee’s mouth. This process is repeated several times until the nectar is finally deposited into a honeycomb.
6. The bees’ buzz is the sound made by their wings. A bees’ wings beat 11,400 times per minute.
7. Honeybees have five eyes. Two compound eyes, one on either side of their head, and three smaller eyes, called ocelli, on the top of their heads. These ocelli serve as a navigation system and allow the bee to triangulate its position in relation to the sun.
8. Utah is home to over 900 species of bees! There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees worldwide, found on every continent except Antarctica.
9. Worker Honeybees are all female. Male Honeybees, called drones, do not have stingers and their only job is to mate with the queen.
10. Bees are responsible for 80 percent of pollination that occurs.
The Hive opens to the public at 10:00 a.m. on May 31! Visit the new exhibit, take fun photos, and learn what you can do to help bees thrive.
