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What is a Bee?

  • What is a Bee?
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Honeybees are attracted to the sweet nectar found in flowers like clover.

Honeybees are attracted to the sweet nectar found in flowers like clover.
© Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Beaverlodge Research Farm

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Honeybees are attracted to the sweet nectar found in flowers like clover. Canola blooms offer bees an excellent source of pollen. In the wild, bees build their homes in hollow tree trunks. Bees collect great quantities of pollen in "baskets" located behind their rear legs. Honeybees sometimes build their homes in the hollow space between the inside and outside walls of a house.

Honeybees

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are social insects that vary in colour, usually from a yellow-brown to a dark brown, depending on the type. They are about 12.5 mm long with a hairy body. Honeybees feed on flower nectar and also collect pollen to feed their larvae.

In the wild, they usually live in hollowed-out trees and, using wax they have produced, build cells in which to store honey and raise their larvae. Nowadays, however, most honeybees live in manufactured hives provided by beekeepers.

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