What do we know about bees?

Hello, my name is Zippy Skropiskys, and I will tell about the greatest, most powerful animal that you’ve ever met-bees. In my article you will find the answers to questions like:

-What means zombie bee?

-How the history of humans was crossed to the bee’s history?

-Which species of bees do we have on Earth?

And all the other interesting questions. OK, let’s start!

The first thing that you must to know about bees it’s what kind of bees do we have?

The first kind is a very famous bumblebee. Bumblebees are one of the more important wild pollinators, but have declined significantly in recent decades. In the UK, 2 species have become nationally extinct during the last 75 years while others have been placed on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan as priority species in recognition of the need for conservation action. In 2006 a new charity, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, was established to coordinate efforts to conserve remaining populations through conservation and education. In 2011, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species world-wide uses the IUCN Red List criteria.

Next type of bees is as famous as the first-it’s a honey bee. The true honey bees (genus Apis) have arguably the most complex social behaviour among the bees. The European (or Western) honey bee, Apis mellifera, is the best known bee species and one of the best known of all insects.

And we have another one kind of bees-the last one-it’s an Africanised honey bee.  Africanized bees, also called killer bees, are a hybrid strain of Apis mellifera derived from experiments by Warwick Estevam Kerr to cross European and African honey bees. Several queen bees escaped from his laboratory in South America and have spread throughout the Americas. Africanized honey bees are more defensive than European honey bees.

And now let’s talk about the bees and humans history. Bees figure prominently in mythology and folklore and have been used by political theorists as a model for human society. Journalist Bee Wilson states that the image of a community of honey bees "occurs from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, as well as by social theorists Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx."[30] They are found in heraldry where they can signify industriousness as in the Manchester bee in the crest of Manchester City Council.

Despite the honey bee's painful sting and the stereotype of insects as pests, bees are generally held in high regard. This is most likely due to their usefulness as pollinators and as producers of honey, their social nature, and their reputation for diligence. Bees are one of the few insects frequently used in advertisements in a positive manner, typically for products containing honey (such as Honey Nut Cheerios).

In ancient Egypt, the bee was seen to symbolize the lands of Lower Egypt, with the Pharaoh being referred to as "He of Sedge and Bee" (the sedge representing Upper Egypt).

In North America, yellowjackets and hornets, especially when encountered as flying pests, are often misidentified as bees, despite numerous differences between them.

Although a bee sting can be deadly to those with allergies, virtually all bee species are non-aggressive if undisturbed and many cannot sting at all. Humans are often a greater danger to bees, as bees can be affected or even harmed by encounters with toxic chemicals in the environment (see also bees and toxic chemicals).

In Indonesia  bee larvae are eaten as a companion to rice, after being mixed with shredded coconut "meat", wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed.

And the question, which interested and intrigued everyone,-ZOMBIE BEES. Here is the story about them:

Honey bees were found in Washington that was acting strangely, almost as if they were drunk. Tests were conducted on collected specimens, and it was found that they had been infected by the parasitic fly Apocephalus borealis (also known as the zombie fly). Bees infected by Apocephalus borealis have been dubbed as "zombie bees," or "zombees."The infection has spread to Oregon, California, and South Dakota. Tests are being conducted on bees in several other states to determine if the bees there are infected. Bees infected with the Apocephalus borealis fly cannot spread the infection to humans!

                                        

                                                                                                     Written by

                                                                              Zippy Skropiskys