If I ask you to think about bees, what comes to your mind?
Probably an image of a small flying insect painted with black and yellow stripes, or perhaps numerous bee hives come to your mind; A delicious honey jar for breakfast or maybe a bad memory about a painful sting.
When we think about bees this is what usually comes to our mind. But what would happen if I told you that bees are not black with yellow stripes; they do not live in organized colonies, they do not produce honey and bees do not sting ... at least not the vast majority of them.
There are more than 20,000 recorded species of bees around the world, but when we think of bees we usually refer to one of them, Apis Mellifera. It is not a surprise that this is the most popular bee, since it easily adapts to different ecosystems. This has allowed it to position itself throughout the entire globe, with the exception of Antarctica. Also its productive capacity for honey and wax has gain it its place as a highly valued specie for humans. But while Apis Mellifera has managed to position itself as an insect of great economic, environmental and socio-cultural importance, it would be absurd to assume that a single specie represents all thousands of species on our planet ... and yet we have done so.
Nowadays we know that the pressure that we have generated in our ecosystems, the massive deforestation and the use of agrochemicals and pesticides puts at risk the fragile balance of our planet. We often hear about the danger, result of the rapid loss of bees and other insects and the important role they play in the pollination of food crops. Protecting bees has become an obligated and shared responsibility; but protecting something that we do not know becomes an even more complex task.
Learning is essential to translate knowledge into actions for preservation. Let's deconstruct everything we think we know about this little flying insect and open our eyes to an unknown world. This space is built to discover the fascinating world of bees so we can contribute to their survival.
90% of bees are solitary, they do not live in organized colonies.
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