Honey Bee Dangers

Honey bees are interesting and work very hard during their lifetime. Some say we owe our survival to the honey bee. They help pollinate everything from ornamental flowers to our food supply. They have become very efficient and effective at pollination unfortunately, honey bees face many dangers in their daily life to survive. They have to defend from predators in flight as well as in their hive, not to mention the wide use of pesticides. Honey bees also produce delicious honey that some use for medicinal purpose and human and animal food production. Honey bees are important to our society, from evolution through the pollination process. Unfortunately, the bees face many dangers, however, humans need them to help pollinate crops and assist

Scientists believe that the honey bee evolved “35 million years ago, but older ones are probably still hidden in the rocks of Southeast Asia” (Chadwick et al. 15). Over the years, the honey bee has changed to help better pollinate and even cross-pollinate flowers and food. “Early bees resembled their carnivorous wasp cousins and had short tongues and sleek bodies” ( Wilson-Rich 15). The bees began to change over time. “Bees became better at collecting pollen, evolving hairier bodies, and a greater ability to recognize different flower types” (Chadwick, et al. 16). With this change

“The result was some of the incredible diversity of flowers and bee species we see today” (Chadwick, et al. 16). It appears that we need to thank the bees for all the beautiful flowers on our earth. “Bees pollinate over 130 fruit and vegetable crops and produce many other things that benefit humans-honey, wax, resins, propolis, royal jelly, and even venom” (Wilson-Rich 10). If bees did not exist, we may not have the flowers or crops that we have today. They are extremely helpful when pollinating gardens and farms. Some farmers have become beekeepers. By having bee hives on the farm the bees help pollinate and produce more crops on the farms. “The yield of these crops would decline to less than 10 percent of its current level if bees disappeared” (Wilson-Rich 96). We need the bees to help pollinate our crops, not just for humans, but for animals too. Animals eat fruit and plants to live as