There are about 20,000 different types of bee and
the best known is honeybee.
Like honeybee not all bees live in colonies. Many live alone and build their own nests.
Bees are perfectly adapted to pollinate, helping plants grow, breed and produce food. They do so by transferring pollen between flowering plants.
When honeybees perceive a threat to their hive, they will react. If you stumble upon a honey bee hive, the bees may think you’re a threat. In that case, they will attack and try to sting you.
When honey bees sting, they release pheromones that stir up nearby bees.
Honeybees are the only insects that make food which humans eat.
Bees also make beeswax which is used for making candles and furniture polish
One beehive may contain 50,000 worker bees - these are the bees which collect nectar from flowers to make honey.
Honeybees visit up to five million flowers to make one kilo of honey.
Honeybees' wings beat 11,400 times a minute.
Wallace's giant bees are the world's largest at up to 4 cm long. They were first found in Indonesia in 1858 but were then thought to have become extinct. In 1981 they were rediscovered.
Queen bees can lay two or three thousand eggs a day - as many as 200,000 eggs a year.
China was ranked the first among honey producing countries, with production volume amounted to about 447 thousand metric tons of honey that year.
Perdita Minima is the smallest bee in the world which is 2mm long.
Apiculture is the practice of keeping and maintaining bees and their hives.
The beekeeper is also referred to as the apiarist and the entire colony set up is called the Apiary.
