How can such a small creature gather so much pollen? About six years ago, researchers discovered something new about flowers and bees. Would you believe electric charges????? It turns out as a bee flies through the air, the friction of the bee’s body parts against the air causes the bee to have a slight positive charge. The flowers that attract bees have a slight negative charge. So when a bee lands on the flower, the bee’s body attracts the pollen to it and the pollen sticks! On February 22, 2013, NPR ran the spot “Honey It’s Electric: Bees Sense Charge On Flowers.” Who knew?
Another fact: a bee can collect about 15 mg of pollen on a singe foraging trip. This is about half its body weight, and a bee has to collect pollen from about 1 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey.
Bees are truly AMAZING creatures……….. and I’m glad I’m not a bee. It makes me tired just to think about it!
