Appreciate the Honeybee

All too often, the first thought that comes to mind when people think of honeybees is a fear of being stung. In fact, with this limited perception of honeybees, many would understandably prefer to live without them. However, it is thinking like this, that causes these same people, and most of the world's population to fail to recognize the many positive attributes ascribed to the honeybee. Many don't fully understand, or appreciate that these insects are in fact, one of the most complex, intelligent, and above all helpful creatures to humans, and the remaining living species on this planet. In fact, the plight of the honeybee is so remarkable, that after becoming familiar with it, it is virtually impossible not to at least slightly build ones appreciation for these remarkable creatures.

Part of what makes these unique insects so special is there complexity. Everything about the honeybee -also referred to as Apis Mellifera- from the intricate make-up of their bodies, to the way they operate within colonies and in the beehive to produce honey, is complex. Take for example first the parts of the bee's body. Awake Magazine states that "every detail of its anatomy suits its life purpose-to produce offspring, to pollinate flowers and to make honey [ . . .] The middle section of a bee is the thorax. It is hard, round and equipped with muscles that power the six legs and four wings. This is the "engine" that enables our tiny flying creature to travel miles away from the hive and return laden with pollen and nectar [. . .] It is difficult to believe that in this tiny space is a complex digestive system with two stomachs (one serving as a temporary store for nectar and water) [. . .] Observers will also notice that a bee's body is hairy, just right for collecting pollen from flowers. Its two hind legs have tiny "pollen baskets," and the two middle legs have special stiff hairs for brushing pollen into these baskets." (Awake! 7/22/77, 21-5)

Equally as complex as the body of the bee, is the function of the colony and the hive in which it lives. Amazingly, it has been determined that a single small beehive can be home to some twenty thousand bees or more. Within the hive, the colony of bees is then divided into three types; worker bees, drones, and the queen bee. Each is equally important in it's own unique way to the survival of the colony. For example, the drones are to mate with the queen bee, in turn, the sole function of the queen is to lay eggs, generally laying some 1,500 eggs each day and 200,000 eggs each year. The worker bees or sterile female bees tend to the queen and her eggs, maintain and defend the hive, and gather pollen and nectar. Furthermore the worker bees are also said to have the ability to relocate portions of the existing colony into a new hive when the existing one becomes over crowded.

Aside from the complexity of these insects, another reason for appreciating and valuing honeybees lies in their remarkable intelligence. Based on past, as well as recent experiments, honeybees are definitely one of the most intelligent insect species ever. An example of their outstanding intelligence was brought out in an article featured in Awake! Magazine, which states that "the honeybee is another creature that seems to be "intelligent." "In order to test it's intelligence," Dr. James Gould, a researcher of honeybee behavior at Princeton University, placed food for the bees but moved the food each time the bees flew back to the hive. Each movement of the food was one and a quarter times the previous distance from the hive. Soon the bees outwitted the researcher. They were found circling around the spot where the food was next expected to be." (Awake! 12/22/86, 12)

Another motive for appreciating how smart honeybees are is bee navigation. Certainly, it is already known, that bees are created with instinctive traits to help them navigate between hives and flowers. However, according to another article in Awake! Magazine, it is not known how certain colonies of honeybees travel hundreds of miles away from their nests, only to return two years later to the same exact tree and branch that contained their home. This is especially a mystery given the fact that the normal life expectancy of a honeybee is actually only a few months, which means these same bees were following a path, set by honeybees that existed several generations before them. It is suggested that this is likely done through the bees' keen sense of smell, and through their ability to communicate and receive directions through a complex dance done by the queen. For this reason, it is little wonder why "The incredible wisdom found in a tiny bee's brain continues to dumbfound scientists."(Awake! 12/22/80, 20)

Furthermore, in yet another Awake! Magazine, published this time in 1995, the tiny brain of the honeybee was compared with the most powerful computer, in an article titled Bee Versus Computer. In this article, it was brought out that just one of the most powerful computers could in each second perform 16 billion simple mathematic problems. To humans this may seem incredible. When compared to that of a honeybee, however, we learn that this isn't much of an achievement at all. "A conservative count of all the electrical and chemical events taking place in a bee's brain shows that the lowly honeybee performs the equivalent of ten trillion operations per second." (Awake! 2/8/95, 24-5)

The final and perhaps most significant reason as to why bees are so important and should be respected by all, is that honeybees help the majority of living species including humans. In addition to the production of honey, beeswax, and other products used by people worldwide, each year honeybees are estimated to have pollinated "more than 90 food, fiber, and seed crops in the United States, valued at U.S. $14.6 billion"(ENN 6/27/01) This means that directly or indirectly one fourth of all the food we consume -whether it be fruits, vegetables, or meats- depends heavily on the bees' pollination of crops.

In conclusion, with all that can be said about the honeybee and how valuable an insect it actually is, there are a lot of reasons why many should rethink their limited outlook on honeybees. As previously mentioned, these insects are of the most complex, intelligent, and helpful ever made. This alone should give people the incentive to heighten their appreciation for bees, and to value them as more than just buzzing pest to keep away from.

Works Cited

"Are they Intelligent." Awake! 22 Dec. 1986: 12.

"Beautiful and Brainy." Awake! 22 Dec. 1980: 30.

"Bee Versus Computer." Awake! 8 Feb. 1995: 24-25.

"Honey from the Bee to You." Awake! 22 Jul. 1977: 21-25

"Dwindling U.S. Honeybees fortified with hardy Russian stock." Environmental News Network.

27 Jun. 2001. National Geographic. 20 Oct. 2003