be (a) Bee!

My father was a beekeeper. He took it on as a hobby and his initial three hives quickly became many as his fascination with bees grew. He often took me along when tending to the hives where he would marvel for hours at their intricate behaviors, their busy hard-working habits and their incredibly social-oriented nature. He would say to me: “Bees are just about the smartest animals on earth. You can learn much from these amazing little creatures”. We would be wise to emulate bees and their inspiring ways.   

beBees do the impossible

Bees were not supposed to be able to fly. Their flight cannot be explained by fixed wing aerodynamics. Or so it was thought until 1996 when high speed cinematography solved the puzzle. Their wings flaps 230 times per second and creates a vortex, similar to a helicopter, which enables it to be airborne. Bees do what humans for a long thought was not possible.

beBees jive and dance!

Bees tell each other precisely where food and nectar can be found by their captivating waggle dance in which they form a figure of eight and dart from side to side to indicate distance and direction. How charming that they communicate on life’s necessities by dancing for one another.

beBees work hard, incredibly hard

During colder seasons worker bees can live for nine months. But in summer they rarely last longer than six weeks. Why? They literally work themselves to death collecting pollen and nectar and bringing it to the hive for the benefit of the colony. Their work for others never stop. Even until they are no more.

beBees are adaptable and can do many jobs

Bees are wired for certain jobs but their brain chemistry changes before switching to a new job. Scout bees that search for new sources of food are wired for adventure, soldier bees work as security guards their whole life. Bees often perform multiple jobs over their lifetime, with their brains changing in protein composition when changing from forager to nurse.

The Queen bee is…well, the Queen Bee

The queen bee can live up to five years and is busiest in the summer months when she lays up to 2500 eggs per day. Worker bees know when the queen bee has died because they stop smelling her pheromones, and know it is time for a new queen. Not only on her death but also during her life the queen is able to produce chemicals that guide the behavior of her hive.

beBees stay curious

Bees' brains can age in reverse. Scientists at Arizona University found that tricking older foraging bees into doing social work in the nest, changed the molecular structure of their brains for the better. Their tiny minds became more adaptable and more capable of learning new skills. Bees stay curious and they continue to adapt and learn.

beBees find the best way

Say you have to visit six stores in six different places. Chances are you will not find the optimal travelling route – a problem that stumps even computers. For bees this is a cinch – they fly the shortest route in total to get to six different flowers – the only animal known to have solved what is called the “travelling salesman” problem.

beBees are smart

The greek mathematician Pappus argued that the structure of the honeycomb is the most efficient way of building a nest from beeswax. Many centuries later this was mathematically proven by Thomas Hales, a professor in mathematics. The least amount of wax is used to create the largest amount of honey-holding space when built in the familiar octagonal shape.

beBees fly far

A bee flies to obtain food. Tests have found bees going as far as 14 km from their hive and some tropical species have been recorded as going as far as 23 km to find food. But this was found under controlled tests and a precise answer is not known. The real answer to the question how far can a bee fly is -  as far as they have to.

beBees are philosophical (and fun!)

The great philosophers all learned from bees. 

To do is to be – Socrates, 

To be is to do – Jean Paul Sartre  

To be or not to be - William Shakespeare. 

But then, so did the great entertainers.

Beedy beedy beedy – Twiki in Buck Rogers.

Do be do be do be do – Frank Sinatra 

May we all be true beBees.