- Honeybees are important pollinators in agricultural, urban and natural landscapes.
- Bees pollinate about 130 fruit, vegetable, nut, ornamental and fiber crops in the United States, contributing about $15 billion annually through improved crop yield and product quality.
- Hundreds of millions of dollars are additionally generated through the sale of hive products such as honey, wax, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and venom.
- Bees have five eyes.
- Bees fly at about 20 mph.
- Bees have two pairs of wings.
- Bees are insects, so they have 6 legs.
- Male bees in the hive are called drones.
- Female bees in the hive (except the queen) are called worker bees.
- Losing its stinger will cause a bee to die.
- Bees have been here around 30 million years.
- Bees carry pollen on their hind legs in a part called a pollen basket or corbicula.
- An average beehive can hold around 50,000 bees.
- Foragers must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.
- The average forager makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
- Average per-capita honey consumption in the U.S. is 1.3 pounds annually.
- The principal form of communication among honeybees is through chemicals called pheromones.
Source: Texas A&M University Department of Entomology