With World Bee Day held across the globe next Monday 20 May, it’s time to pay more attention to the buzzing in the air and take a closer look at the complex lifecycle and ecosystem of bees.
1. There are over 1500 different species of native Australian bees, some of which are as tiny as two millimetres with the largest being around 24 millimetres. In just a single day a queen bee can lay 3000 eggs. There are on average about 55,000 worker bees in a bee colony.
2. A queen bee lives for up to two years, while worker bees live about 45 days during summer, and less in winter. One bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day, while a single bee can pollinate 5000 flowers a day.
3. The world’s almond production is totally dependent upon bee pollination. The Australian almond industry depends on honey bees for pollination with more than 200,000 hives required during the pollination season. The almond blossoms provide one of the first natural sources of food for bees each spring.
