Honey bees create honey, beeswax and folklore. First domestication of the honeybee is c. 8000 BCE, in the Neolithic Age. At this time the ice sheets of the last glaciation are receding. Climates are warmer. Flowers spread to habitats once too cold, and with them come the bees.
According to scientists, bees evolve from predatory wasps who develop a preference for nectar. Although fossil evidence is limited, bees emerge around the same time as flowering plants during the Cretaceous period, 146 to 74 million years ago.
Originating in area of the Philippines, honey bees find themselves surrounded by floral abundance with a rise in temperate climates. They propagate like mad and quickly spread. As people grow more aware of the sweet ambrosia, bee domestication soon follows.
Artworks of humans collecting honey from wild bees date c. 10,000 years ago. Early people learn how to attract bees with artificial hives in hollow logs, boxes, pottery or baskets. There are 7 - 11 recognized honeybee species with about 43 sub-species.
Honey bees have five eyes. The two obvious compound eyes see shapes. Three eyes, tiny bumps at the top of the head, detect light and shadow. One of these eyes is connected to flight. Insects such as ants who normally don't fly, like ants, have only two eyes atop the head.
Honey bees see outside the spectrum of humans. While humans see within the visible light spectrum, honey bees see into the ultra-violet spectrum. Some like the Asian giant honeybee (Apis dorsata) can differentiate colors even in low light.
How Bees Make Honey
Bees make honey to preserve their gathered nectar. If it's stored without the transformation to honey, the nectar will ferment. Honey fermentation also happens in abandoned hives and inspires the brewing of the world's oldest alcoholic beverage, honey mead.
With her long probiscis the bee gets nectar from flower blossoms. The taste of the honey, its color, health benefits and other effects depend on the type of plants frequented by the bees. Honey colors range from almost clear to golden and deep red.
Returning to the hive the bee transfers her nectar by mouth to a house worker. She also combs the pollen from her legs and body. As nectar passes from bee to bee, sugars are further broken down. Moisture content decreases.
Each bee in the process has a specialized type of work. The final product goes into one of the six-sided cells. The bee vibrates her wings over the honey to let more water evaporate, and covers the cell with a beeswax cap.
Bees secrete beeswax from glands in the abdomen. Wax is used to create the cells of the hive. Female worker bees have eight abdominal glands to produce wax when it's needed to build the honeycomb. The wax hardens when exposed to air and forms a wax scale.
Honey is the backup food source for the bees when flowers are scarce. Stored in the hive it's consumed whenever needed. The Queen, busy laying up to 2000 eggs a day, is fed pollen, nectar and honey by workers.
The society and behavior of bees is complex. Foragers collect nectar and pollen. Hive workers specialize in meeting the forager on her return and taking charge of the bounty. After entering the darkness of the hive, bees navigate with sensory wing and antennae movement.
Within the community there are guards, who patrol outside or in the hive, or perch near entrances. The guards can distinguish a home bee from an enemy. Alarms spread quickly through the hive.
When hatched, bee drones are at first fed by workers. Later they feed themselves on honey. Drones of wasps have been observed working in that they feed others, adults and larvae, with nectar they receive.
In their cells the bee larvae make a tap or clicking noise unpleasant to bees, triggering feeding behavior. The noise-making is also found in wasp larvae. Nurse bees produce royal jelly from their heads. They feed the larvae, while attendants feed the reigning Queen.
Bee drones are less often seen outside the hive. Adult males participate in the mating or nuptial flight. At about the same time every year, young queens 6-16 days old take to the skies to mate with up to a dozen males in a swarm of thousands.
Mating takes place in spring or summer. Ideal temperature is 69°F (20°C). After the nuptial flight the Queen lays eggs within two days to two weeks.
If a honey bee queen unexpectedly dies, worker bees hasten to find larvae within the proper age range, and raise the larvae to become queens. Queens come from the same type of eggs as workers bees.
A newly hatched female larva is not yet a queen or worker. The royal jelly fed to larvae has slight differences in composition for potential queens or workers. Workers and drones get royal jelly for the first few days after hatching. The jelly also helps anchor cells of Queens.
After a few days, workers are fed "bee bread" a mix of honey and pollen. Young Queens receive more royal jelly. As it's an essential food for developing bees and Queens, collection of royal jelly from a live hive damages crucial functions and can cause the death of a colony.
To get the honey and beeswax, people use smoke. Smoking is an age old practice to avoid being stung while gathering honey. In ancient times people build a smokey fire under the hive. It's still done for honey hunts in places like Nepal.
Bees exposed to smoke can still sting. Under normal conditions a drop of venom forms at the stinger or modified ovipositor. In Queens the ovipositor is also used to lay eggs. When affected by smoke, the honeybees produce little or no venom.
It's thought the venom precedes and triggers the sting. Bees on smoke are less likely to sting, and don't rally their sisters to attack as in a normal hive raid because their senses are confused. For this reason they're often said to be sedated by smoke.
Beekeeping is practiced in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Honey is found in the tombs of Pharaohs and nobility, along with depictions of active bee keeping and honey harvesting. By c. 2000 BCE the Egyptians make stackable hives from pipes of clay or Nile mud.
Workers move the hives up and down the Nile depending on the time of year. The bees then pollinate seasonal flowers such as lotus, flax, mandrake, daisy, chrysanthemum, poppy, jasmine and rose.
In spirituality, bees are associated with the Sun, divinity, prosperous work, cooperation, communication, community, harmony, wisdom, celebration and healing. Bee stings and bee products are used in natural medicine.
Bee sting venom contains peptides and enzymes used to treat inflammation and central nervous system diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Bee honey is used on skin lesions or wounds to speed healing.
Honey has anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It's a remedy for coughs, skin conditions and immune deficiency. It has natural calming agents to harmonize thoughts and ease a troubled mind.
It can help alleviate sadness or bad moods because honey stimulates the nucleus accumbens or pleasure center in the brain. Honey and royal jelly are consumed by ancient and modern humans as medicine and for perceived aphrodisiac qualities.
In Mycenean and Minoan Greek myth, goddess Potnia is associated with bees. She's called "Pure Mother Bee". Her priestesses receive the name Melissa, meaning bee. Melissa is another name of Greek Artemis the Huntress (Roman: Diana).
Despoina, also meaning "Lady", is a mystery goddess linked to Kore (later Persephone) and fertility goddess Demeter. She's known as a patron of bees and beekeeping.
Melisseus is Greek god of honey and bees. In one version of the escape of baby Zeus, the god's daughters feed Zeus with milk and honey when Rhea his mother hides him from his father Cronus. Cronus tries to eat all his children for fear they'll usurp him. He's right.
Priestesses of the agriculture goddess Demeter are known as Melissae. Grandmother Goddess Hannahanna of the Hittites has a bee as her symbol and helper. In the story of angst-ridden agriculture god Telinipu she sends a bee to find him.
In folklore, if a bee enters the home, it's a sign of a visitor soon to arrive. It can signify good fortune, but the bee must leave on her own. If the human resident chases, traps or kills the bee, bad luck follows, or the visitor will be troublesome.
In Celtic mythology honey bees have great wisdom. Egyptians and Celts believe bees travel between worlds and deliver messages from the gods. In the west islands of Scotland, bees embody the ancient knowledge of the druids.
Bees are found in myth and folklore around the world. Honey and beeswax are important resources for humans since the Mesolithic period c. 10,000 - 8000 BCE. Bees are often considered magical creatures. Their honey is both a mystery and divine gift.
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