Kids Planet~Bees     

Bees are very important not just to human beings but to flowering plants and other animals on earth. This is because they are the most important animals which pollinate flowering plants. Without pollination, the world would be a very dull, less colorful place in which to live. Our pantries would be nearly empty, too. In fact, bees are such important pollinators that every third bite of food that we take is either directly or indirectly the result of pollinating bees. Remember that the next time you are enjoying honey on your breakfast toast or think about spraying deadly insecticides in your garden. Bees are very sensitive to many chemical pesticides.

Here are some bee facts:

• Honey Bees have 5 eyes
• A honey bee colony needs an average of 70 pounds of honey to survive the winter.
• A honey bee must tap 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey.  To get to 2 million flowers, bees fly 55,000 miles.  That is the equivalent to flying around the world!  
• A honey bee visits between 50-100 flowers during one collection trip.
• To make one pound of honey, honey bees must gather 10 pounds of nectar.
• If disturbed, bees will normally chase you about 50 feet.
• Honey contains no fat, no cholesterol, no gluten and no sulfates or sulfites.
• Honey is the ONLY food that includes all of the substances necessary to sustain life, including water
• The average hive has from 50,000 to 75,000 honeybees.  Each bee lives for only six weeks and makes  only one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
• Honey was found in the tomb of King Tut.
• Napoleon used the bee as a symbol of his empire after his coronation in 1804.

Color this bee as she flies from flower to flower.