the.com/bees
tiny aristocrats running a flawless dictatorship of sugar, wax, and ruthless democratic murder
means Flying insects that gather nectar and pollen, live in highly organized colonies, and produce honey and beeswax.
from From Old English 'bēo', a word that buzzed its way unchanged through the Germanic languages — cousins survive in Dutch 'bij' and German 'Biene'. The deeper root is uncertain, but the sound has stayed remarkably loyal for over a thousand years, as if the word itself wanted to mimic the hum.
- democratic
- swarms pick new homes by competitive headbutting votes
- wing speed
- flap roughly 230 times per second
- royal jelly
- diet alone decides if a larva becomes queen
- lifetime output
- one worker makes a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey
- waggle dance
- a figure-eight that maps flowers in degrees
apis mellifera — european honeybee, the most widely managed pollinator species, found on every continent except antarctica
bombus terrestris — buff-tailed bumblebee, native to europe and north africa, commercially bred for greenhouse pollination
vanessa atalanta — red admiral butterfly larva, parasitized by ichneumon wasps that lay eggs in bee colonies to feed on developing brood
africanized honeybee — hybrid descended from 1957 sao paulo experimental cross, now spread across americas with aggressive defensive behavior