Posted 4-3-00

Bees are wonderful topics for essay writing. There's loads of information out there on these important insect pollinators.

Briefly, there are three caste members in a hive--the drones, the workers, and the queen. Most hive members are female, except for the drones, which are male insects. A typical hive may have about 30,000 bees, with several hundred drones who fertilize the queen.

Bees are important to farming because they help pollinate many of the crops we eat directly, or use indirectly, such as alfalfa. Alfalfa is an excellent source of feed for livestock, like cows, which produce our milk and other dairy products. Bees are truly busy. During its short life, a bee may average several hundred miles of flight-time in search of nectar, the stuff from which honey is made and gathered by humans. There are lots of uses for honey, which is rich in sugars that help sweeten tea or ... the glaze on a ham, for example. Honey also is prized for its nutritional and antimicrobial properties.

-- Sci4Kids Staff.

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