Honey bee-insect that is associated with pollination of flowers and the production of honey. There are nearly twenty thousand kinds of bees in the world, so why should we care about one of them? Why should the decreasing number of honeybees worry us?
Honey bee
For many of us, it is just a bee, but very few people are aware that it is one of the most important insects that exists in the world. Despite the important role it plays in nature, its amount is still decreasing. The population of this insect is too small in relation to the demand. It has two pairs of wings which make it float in the air, a sting which is its defense organ, and a third pair of legs with baskets designed to carry pollen.
Role in nature
It is a big surprise that the honeybee is not only supposed to produce honey, as everyone might think. Its main purpose is to pollinate plant flowers that feed both humans and animals.
Length of life
The life of a bee depends to a large extent on its role in the hive. If we are dealing with an ordinary worker who performs her work in the summer, she lives up to 38 days, but in winter up to 6 months. The absolute record holder is the queen, who can live up to 6 years, as Sylwia Aptacy writes on animal information.
Why are they so important to us?
As it is written above, their role in nature is not limited to the production of honey. Thanks to them and the fact that they pollinate plants, the harvest of vegetables and fruits can be even ten times more abundant. Bees live in colonies of approximately 50 individuals. Workers predominate in this number, but we are also dealing with drones, and these in turn have the role of inseminating the queen who lays eggs.
The reason for the mass death of bees
The mass extinction of bees has been going on since 2006. Albert Einstein argued that if the world were to run out of bees, mankind would only be able to live 4 years without them. What is the reason of their extinction? The main reason is neonicotinoid plant protection products that are sprayed on agricultural fields in Europe and the USA.
How to prevent it?
Considering the scale of the problem and the awareness that bees are an essential part of our lives, we should remember to take care of them to the best of our ability. Beekeepers can count on a lot of help in this matter from the EU because the problem has become so serious that it has started sponsoring the profession. Farmers should consider alternatives to certain chemicals that have a colossal negative effect on the honey bee. If we take care of the insects that we need for life, such as bees, we can prevent their extinction.
