Honey Bee on Maryland Golden Asters
by Rebecca Carr
Title
Honey Bee on Maryland Golden Asters
Artist
Rebecca Carr
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Honey bees are still active in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I spotted two bees in this cluster of Maryland golden asters, although one is more prominent in the center of this image. These bees are undoubtedly infertile female worker bees. They do all the work of the colony, which can reach the size of 60,000 to 80,000 bees. The males, called "drones," exist solely to fertilize the queen's eggs. She is the only fertile female in the entire colony, and one queen can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day! The worker honey bees will fly 1-1/2 times the circumference of the earth in their lifetimes - and, sadly, they only live 6 to 8 weeks. For all their effort, they make only 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in their entire lifetime. I'm going to appreciate the work that goes into the honey in my tea a lot more now!
Uploaded
August 6th, 2019
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