Honey bee facts: Distribution
Honey bees species are found worldwide and can be seen in many
different locations, including Europe and the United States. They are most
visible in summer and late spring, when new queens leave their old
colonies along with thousands of workers to build new nests. At this time,
large groups of bees can be seen swarming together to find a new nesting
place. It takes a swarm approximately 24 hours to locate a new nesting
site. While most swarms are harmless, certain species of bees are
extremely aggressive and may attack unprovoked.
Because honey bees are found worldwide, their nature and behavior can
vary. For instance, while Italian honey bees are usually more docile,
German and African honey bees can display extremely defensive behavior.
However, all honey bees can become defensive when provoked and can
chase humans or animals hundreds of feet.
Pollination
For millions of years honey bees have been major pollinators of flowers
and, therefore, the plants producing the flowers have relied on the bees.
The goal of the plant is reproduction. The bees help accomplish this by
unwittingly transferring pollen, a plant’s male sperm cells, from one flower
to another. Without pollination, many plants would not be able to procreate
and eventually would die out.
Humans benefit from this relationship though crop and honey production.
Many of the crops people consume are pollinated by honey bees. Many
growers maintain honey bee colonies for this very reason. Without
pollination, the plants would not produce fruits and vegetables. Besides
pollination, honey bees extract nectar along with the pollen from the
flowers. The nectar is transported back to the nest where, through a
process, it is converted into honey.