AMAZON PRODUCTS
The Bee Tree by
Patricia Polacco, Patricia Polacco
Reading level: Ages 4 - 8 |
3-D Bees and Micro Fleas
: See Insects Magnifird Up to 400,000 Times! (Eye-To-Eye)
by Shar Levine, Elaire, Dr Humphrey, Leslie Johnstone, Elaine Humphrey
(Photographer)
Reading level: Ages 9 -12 |
The Bee (Life Cycles)
by Sabrina Crewe
 Reading
level: Ages 9 -12
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There are 25,000 kinds
of bees identified in the world. The most well know being the honeybee.
In the United States there are a known 3,500 species. Most bees do not
live in large groups, they are solitary bees. The honeybee is not a native
of the United States. The first bees were brought to the U.S. from Holland.
Later other bees were brought from many other countries. South America
had some honey bees but they did not produce much honey.
When honeybees were brought
to the United States, Native Americans called them "white mans flies".
Soon bees became a known site in the Americas.
In Brazil, honeybees did
not survive well and scientist brought African Bees to Brazil. These bees
were found to be very aggressive and mistakenly escaped into the wild.
These bees are very common in Brazil now.
Beekeepers raise bees
for honey, but more often they raise them to pollinate crops. Pollination
occurs when the bee lands on a flower and some of the pollen gets stuck
to the bees hairy legs. The next time the bee lands, some of the pollen
falls off her legs and onto another flower, allowing it to reproduce.
Beekeepers have been raising
bees for their honey for thousands of years. The first beekeepers kept
their bees in hollow logs or clay pots. Now they keep the bees in wooden
hives. When beekeepers raise bees for honey, they must remove part of the
hive to retrieve the honey. They must "calm" the bees by using a special
smoker. The smoke is puffed out around the bees and the bees move slower
and are not as aggressive.
The next article will
be about bee jobs! |
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