10 facts about bees to put a pep in your step

Whether you’ve run out of party tricks or you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel for conversation starters, keeping this list of facts about bees handy might just be a smart idea. Mary Trumble and Henry Fried are the clever cogs behind this beautifully illustrated world of bees, which they share (along with a crapload more bee-y things) in their new book, Honeybees. Nab a copy for yourself this-a-way, and in the meantime, prepare to bee amazed with the nuggets of wisdom below.

Bee Amazed – 10 Astonishing Facts
1. A single honeybee can visit more than 1000 flowers in one day.
2. Honey never spoils – archaeologists found edible honey more than 5000 years old inside an ancient Bronze Age tomb in Georgia.
3. Bees communicate the location of flowers by performing a waggle dance that encodes distance and direction.
4. A queen bee can lay more than 1500 eggs per day during peak season.
5. At the height of the season, a single hive can house 50,000 to 80,000 bees.
6. The average worker bee produces just one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
7. Bees must collect nectar from about four million flowers to make just one kilogram of honey.
8. Honeybees beat their wings about 200 times per second, or roughly 11,000 times per minute, creating their distinctive buzz.
9. Bees keep their hive at around 35°C year-round – no matter whether it’s freezing or sweltering outside.
10. Bees don’t excrete inside the hive. Instead, they wait for a warm, sunny day to take a ‘cleansing flight’ outside.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Backyard Honey Melbourne (@backyardhoney)

This is an edited extract from Honeybees by Mary Trumble and Henry Fried, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally from June 30th. Photography by Jessica Prescott and illustrations by Ashley Simonetto.

After more rad reads? Feast your eyes on our chinwag with Ellena Savage about her new book or take a gander at this list of ripper First Nations authors. Plus, sign up to our newsletter to never miss a rad read.