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This episode’s animal has a love-hate relationship with people. Without them, our environment as we know it would probably collapse, but at the same time, their buzzing could send chills down your spine. So, make sure you’ve got a protective suit, because we’re going inside of a hive to talk about some of the world’s best pollinators: bees.
Organizations
Sources
- How Do Bees Make Their Hives? / Why Do Bees Build Hexagonal Honeycombs?
- Why do honeybees love hexagons? – Zack Patterson and Andy Peterson
- Honey Bees Unusual Defense Against Giant Hornet Attacks: Animal Poop
- Honeybees gang up to roast invading hornets alive — at a terrible cost
- 25 Types of Bees and Wasps Explained with Bee Hive Hierarchy
- What do Bees eat?
- Bee bread
- How Bees Make Honey
- Yellow-Faced Bee – Hylaeus
- The Mysterious Sex Lives of Hawaii’s Endangered Yellow-Faced Bees
- The importance of bees in natural and agricultural ecosystems
- What Are Some Predators of the Honeybee?
- The Environmentalist: The coolest things bees do for the planet and humans
- Honey ‘could help fight cancer’
- Learning About Honey Bees
- The Honey Bee Life Cycle
- The Social Lives of Bees
- Why do honeybees die when they sting?
- The Bee Conservancy
- The Honey Bee Society
- The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life
Additional sound effects:
Alex Re
Hello, welcome to on wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Ray. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you, we take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week. And I guarantee you, you're gonna come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This episode's animal has a love hate relationship with people. Without them our environment as we know it would probably collapse, but at the same time playing the sounds that they make could send chills down your spine. So make sure you've got a protective suit, because we're going inside of a hive to talk about some of the world's best pollinators, bees.
These show up in our pop culture wherever you look in our phrases, or movies or songs and many more things, and they can be found on pretty much any continent except for Antarctica. But there are a lot more than just one type of V. There are approximately 20,000 known species of bees. And there's a possibility that there are more that we don't even know about. And 1/5 of these 20,000 species are native to North America. We can put bees in two categories social and solitary bees. Social bees are the more famous ones that you see in a bunch of pop cultural references like honey bees and bumble bees, and their main jobs are to take care of the young and also maintain the hive. They swarm and they make honey solitary bees are like the opposite of social bees. They live by themselves and they don't really swarm. Some types that you may be familiar with are carpenter bees, digger bees, and leafcutter bees. There are a lot of types of bees to remember. But if you can figure out if they're considered social or solitary, it's a lot easier to understand their behavior. Now we're gonna dive into the different types of bees later on in the episode because each species has really cool and unique characteristics, but let's talk about what they eat first. As you probably know, a lot of bees produce an eat honey. But how did they do this? To make that delicious honey worker bees need to collect nectar from plants, which is basically just the juice that's produced by a flower and it's pretty much like sugar water. This is why you'll oftentimes see bees trying to drink your soda or your juice, they're attracted to sweet things. The bee will come into the hive with her sacks full of freshly collected nectar from nearby plants. And then the worker bees within the hive pass the nectar from mouth to mouth until the moisture content is lowered. Usually the moisture content is lowered to about 20% and in some cases the nectar is stored before it's condensed into honey. Once they get the right moisture level. The honey is then stored in beeswax and this will be used later on for the baby bees. They also collect pollen which is chemically broken down into smaller particles or fermented to create something called bee bread. Bee bread is the main source of protein for the hive. And have you ever noticed that some bees usually bumble bees have hair on their bodies? Well, this hair is there to collect pollen when it lands on a flower. And when there's not enough honey pollen or nectar available, bees sometimes store the juice from fruit as their source of carbohydrates. The bee larva are fed something called royal jelly, which has proteins, sugars, lipids and other minerals that are mixed in with water. It comes from a gland from the female worker bees which is on their head. These female worker bees use pollen and nectar to make this the gland and its chemicals break these materials down to produce the white substance. The reason it's called royal jelly is because later on the larva and the younger bees are weeded out for potential Queen material. The ones that are still candidates for the Queen position of the hive continue to be fed on the royal jelly. The last one standing that ends up being the queen is fed it for the rest of her life. It helps her reproductive organs and ensures that she can produce the next generation of bees. There is also a type of B called a sweat bee which drinks the nectar and honey but also likes to drink sweat. The sweat from animals gives the bee extra nutrients and you can recognize them because they're green. But how do bees find the right flowers? Well, they actually have really good eyesight and can see in ultraviolet light, meaning that they can see things that we would need a special kind of blacklight to see. And some flowers have a specific pattern on them that can only be seen in ultraviolet light, which is basically telling the bees to land on them. Another really interesting feature of their eyesight is that they can't see the color red. So bees don't feed from red flowers. But their sight isn't the only advantage when it comes to finding nectar. They can get the help from their friends too. They do something called the waggle dance. Bees that find good flowers can go back to the hive, and they'll do an elaborate dance where they wiggle their butts at a specific angle in order to communicate with the other bees in the hive. It tells the other bees exactly where the flower is using the angle from the sun landmarks and the distance it is from the hive. What's really amazing is that this is the first non human language that we've been able to interpret and translate for the most part, the only thing that we still don't have an understanding of is the last part of the dance. And if you thought the waggle dance was amazing, just wait till you hear about how they make their hives. We're going to talk about that right after the break.
On this episode of notable figures in science, I want to recognize Dr. Alan Turing, a British mathematician. He got his PhD from Princeton and created the Turing machine, which uses algorithms to solve problems. But what he's probably known best for is creating a machine that was capable of quickly decoding messages that the Nazis would send to each other during World War Two. They even made a movie about how he did this called The Imitation Game. This was one of the huge breakthroughs that helped the Allies defeat the Nazis. Unfortunately, because he was gay, and that was looked down upon. He was convicted of gross indecency and wasn't allowed to work for the government anymore. After that, he played a crucial role in helping end World War Two, and he deserves to be recognized for this. If you want to learn more about Dr. Turing or the series, check out on wildlife.org. Now back to the episode.
Okay, we're back. Just like each species of bird makes their own different type of nest. beehives also vary from species to species. The one that you're probably most familiar with is a honeybee hive, which is made out of wax. The process for how they build their nests is really amazing. First, they secrete wax from their abdomen. After this a worker bee takes the wax secreted by another bees abdomen and starts chewing it, which allows the bee to mold it like clay. They make cylinder shapes out of the wax, and then they start to stick them together. After they've put enough of the cylinders together, the bees all start to vibrate using the muscles in their wings. And this causes the wax to melt. When the wax melts, the cylinders come together and form that hexagon shape that's so familiar. But what's crazy is that a hexagon is the perfect shape for a beehive. It allows for the most amount of space and the least amount of energy used compared to pretty much any other shape. honeybees build their nests in trees, but other species like to nest in a lot of different places. carpenter bees like to live in wood and are known for building their nests on wooden playgrounds or houses. Mining bees and digger bees build nests underground and can make really complex tunnel systems instead of a traditional hive. And mason bees can actually build their nests inside of cement. Bees are considered use social insects. This means that they have a complex social structure where one female produces all of the offspring. Also, you have multiple generations of bees in the same living area, and young are cared for by bees that aren't directly related to them. There are three main types of bees in a colony and their social structure operates like a caste system. The queen bee is the oldest largest and only sexually developed female of the colony. The Queen also has total control of the colony. She has special chemical receptors and donors which can transfer over details or tasks for her worker bees. This is vital because it maintains peace and order within the colony. Next are the drone bees. They're all males and they have probably the easiest life as a bee. These bees only have two jobs to mate with the queen and to eat food to keep themselves alive. And lastly, we have the worker bees which are all female. They're the hustlers of the colony. Their job is to develop and help grow guard and maintain cleanliness in the hive. And they are also the only type of bee which will leave the hive in search of pollen or nectar. And unlike their female Queen, these bees can't lay eggs because they're not sexually developed. The worker bees are also the ones that sting you when they're trying to protect their nest. Bees generally don't sting unless they're provoked. And this could be because worker honeybees Die after only one Sting, which is known as self amputation. The B can't pull out its Stinger unless it's self amputates and when it's self amputated Stinger, it leaves a large hole in its abdomen, which eventually leads to its death. When these thing you they release a chemical called meliton, which activates your pain receptors. And that's why those tiny pinches can hurt so badly. But some bees aren't as nice as honeybees. For example, there's a species called the Africanized bee, also known as the killer bee. This isn't a natural species as scientists in South America decided to crossbreed African honeybees with the local bee population. These bees are really aggressive and they've become an invasive species in North and South America. But bees don't just have to defend against larger animals like us. one of their biggest threats is a wasp. wasps love to go into the hives and eat the bees. But luckily honeybees have an awesome strategy to defend against this. Once a wasp is in the hive, some of the bees form a ball around the wasp and start to vibrate their wing muscles. This causes the inside of the ball to heat up, which basically cooks the wasp alive and kills it. But being a part of that ball also comes at a cost. Individuals who participate in this usually have shorter lifespans than those who don't. Bees have also been known to take animal poop and spread it on the entrance of the hive, which can sometimes keep Hornets away. When we get back from the break, we're going to talk about why bees are so important to the ecosystems and to us.
Okay, it's trivia time, which food will never go bad? And I'll give you a hint. It's related to this week's episode.
The answer is honey. And there are three factors that go into this. First, it's more acidic. Second, it's able to absorb a lot of water. And third, it has hydrogen peroxide in
it. Okay, we're back. And as you probably know, by now, the way that bees reproduce is a little bit out of the ordinary. First, the Queen has to lay an egg in the cell of the hive and abies future is determined before the egg even hatches. It's dependent on whether or not the egg is fertilized by a male. If it's fertilized, the bee has the potential to be a worker or the queen. If it's not fertilized, the egg will hatch to become a drone or a male bee. And when the egg hatches, the larva emerges and it's submerged in royal jelly. And after this, the bees starts to develop features like eyes, hair and wings. And this is called the pupa stage. After the pupa stage, the bees are now adults. So queens can live up to seven years, while worker bees live for about four to five months, and drone bees live for less than seven weeks. So why are bees important to the ecosystems where they live? Well, because they travel from one plant to another. They're fantastic pollinators. In fact, they're considered the world's most vital group of pollinators. pollination helps plants reproduce by making fruit that contains seeds. Fruits are a source of food for many different organisms, especially herbivores. And herbivores are an important source of food for species that rely on prey, omnivores and carnivores. At the end of the day, it's the backbone of an ecosystem. The bees themselves are also sources of food for certain animals, bears, skunks and beetles rely on bees as a large part of their diet. And not only are they important to our ecosystems, they're also important to people. They're vital for our crops. They're helping pollination increases the fruits that we consume. And it's estimated that if bees were to disappear, there would be a net economic loss of almost $6 billion per year. Believe it or not, bees are also great indicators of incoming bad weather. This is because they use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation, which means that they can sense any changes in electromagnetic waves, and this could indicate an incoming thunderstorm. So bees are extremely important, but there have been huge losses to bee populations in recent years. Some studies have shown that honeybee populations have declined by 80% since the early 1900s. And if we lose them, it'll be devastating to all wildlife. One big problem is that bees can build their hives near or on people's homes, which is obviously extremely dangerous for them and us but calling an exterminator isn't the best thing to do because they'll destroy that whole population. Instead, there are companies that will remove the bees from the area without harming the colony and relocate them. By calling these companies instead of exterminators. You can be saving 1000s of bees. There are also some great organizations that are helping bees right now. Check out the bee Conservancy, the honeybee society, and pollinator partnership. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explore the world of bees. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at on wildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at on wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com and you can follow us on Instagram at on underscore wildlife or on tik tok at on wildlife. Don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode. And that's on wildlife.
Jess Avellino
You've been listening to on wildlife with Alex read on wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service which should not be construed as professional financial real estate tax or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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