Let’s Get Quizzical: World Bee Day

Include this article in your Skills Builder Journal. It could help you develop...  

It’s World Bee Day! Bee populations are so important to the world, we couldn’t not do a quiz about these busy lil pals! Put your thinking caps on, answers below…

QUESTIONS

1. How many different types of bees are there in the UK?
a) 65
b) 100
c) 208
d) 270

2. How many trips does it take for bees to collect enough nectar for a jar of honey?
a) 21, 000
b) 22,700
c) 24, 345
d) 30, 000

3. How many eyes does a bee have?
a) 5
b) 6
c) 8
d) 12

4. Which of these is not a real species of bee?
a) Hairy footed flower bee
b) Common masked bee
c) The black-kneed bee
d) Sharp-tailed bee

5. Bees’ tongues are different lengths to drink nectar from different flowers. How long is the UK’s longest bee tongue? 
a) As long as its head 
b) Half as long as its body
c) Down to its knees
d) As long as its body 

6. When a honeybee finds nectar, how does she tell the other bees where it is?
a) Does a little dance
b) Draws a map
c) Sings a song
d) Sounds an alarm

7. Which of these is a place where bees make their nests?
a) An old mouse hole 
b) A beehive 
c) A snail shell 
d) All of the above

8. What colour can bees not see?
a) Green
b) Red
c) Blue
d) Yellow

9. Which common insect eats bees?
a) Dragonflies
b) Ladybirds
c) Beetles
d) Wasps

10. How fast can a honey bee fly?
a) 6-7 mph
b) 8-10 mph
c) 15-20 mph
d) 25-30mph

ANSWERS

1. The answer is d) 270!
There are around 20,000 described bee species worldwide.In Britain we have around 270 species of bee, just under 250 of which are solitary bees. These bees can be amazingly effective pollinators and as the name suggests tend not to live in colonies like bumblebees and honey bees!

2. The answer is b) 22,700!
A jar of honey weighs 454 grammes and a bee can carry about 0.04 grammes of nectar. But nectar is only about 40% sugar and honey needs to be about 80% sugar so the bee actually only carries about 0.02 grammes of honey on each trip. Now how many bees would we need to fill a jar of honey? The answer is 454/0.02 grammes which equals 22,700 trips are required to fill a single jar of honey.

3. The answer is a) 5!
Incredible as it may seem, the honey bee has FIVE eyes, two large compound eyes and three smaller ocelli eyes in the centre of its head.

4. The answer is c) The Black-kneed bee!
Yep that’s right, the hairy footed flower bee, common masked bee and sharp-tailed bee are all real, solitary bees! The saying ‘you’re the bee’s knees’ might be real, but the black kneed bee is not!

5. The answer is d) As long as its body!
The garden bumblebee can stretch its tongue to the length of its whole body! This helps it feed from deep flowers like honeysuckle and irises. It tucks its 2cm long tongue under its belly when resting. 

6. The answer is a) Does a little dance!
A ‘waggle' dance is an action honeybees perform to tell other bees where the nectar is. The dance shows the direction and distance to the flowers. 

7. The answer is d) All of the above!
Only honeybees live in beehives. Most bumblebees nest in small mammal burrows and solitary bees may nest in many places – some even use empty snail shells. 

8. The answer is b) Red!
Bees cannot perceive the red end of the spectrum but, unlike us, they can see ultraviolet light. Because of this, they see the world as more blue and purple than we do. The two main eyes see movement. The additional 3 smaller eyes (on the forehead) detect the intensity of light.

9. The answer is a) Dragonflies!
While they are more likely to catch flies, gnats, and mosquitoes, dragonflies also eat bees. One of a dragonfly’s greatest tricks is to catch prey in flight, grabbing them with their hairy legs. Spiders also eat bees but they are arachnids not insects.

10. The answer is c) 15-20 mph!
The normal top speed of a worker would be about 15-20 mph (21-28 km/h), when flying to a food source, and about 12 mph (17 km/h), when returning laden down with nectar, pollen, propolis or water.