Panel 8 - Human and Bee
Even in the Stone Age, there were wild bee colonies that produced wax and honey. The wild honeybee was truly "tamed" only about 4,500 years ago in ancient Egypt. There, bees were first kept in special baskets (known as "hives" among beekeepers) to facilitate the harvesting of various bee products. Soon, many followed the Egyptians' example: Romans, Greeks, Chinese, and other cultures around the world. Thus, bees became increasingly important to humans. And not just for wax or honey, but because bees help with the pollination of plants, leading to higher yields in fruits and vegetables!
Today, there are many beekeepers who not only take care of the bees but also manage the pollination. This allows beekeepers to actively engage in regional biodiversity – respectful and sustainable beekeeping is more important now than ever before. So that this unique friendship between humans and animals lasts for many more thousands of years!
The Secret Life in the Beehive
How does the honeybee live?
The honeybee lives eusocial – which means in insect societies. Similarly, bumblebees (they are also bees!) and their relatives, the ants, and some wasps do the same.
Queens are supported by worker bees when establishing their colony. These workers also take on all further tasks in the nest later on (like storing supplies, for example). Without their workers, the queen cannot survive. In summer, about 50,000 bees populate the hive. In winter, there are fewer, but they keep each other warm and thus survive the cold season together.
A masterpiece of nature
Anatomy of the bee
The body of a bee consists of three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. A bee has good vision; it has not only two compound eyes but also three simple eyes. On the outside, the bee is protected by a shell, and on the inside, you can find, for example, the honey stomach, the intestine, and the heart.
From Wild Animal to Companion!
How many domesticated (tamed) farm animals can you think of?
THE INCONSPICUOUS
Tassel Leafcutter Bee
– Megachile circumcincta –
- Characteristics: 13 mm long, brown-haired, females with a noticeable red belly brush (belly collector) Habitat | in sand, gravel, and clay pits, on calcareous grasslands and in gardens
- Way of life: They live solitary and cut oval or round pieces from leaves for building and sealing their brood cells – hence the name! Their nest is in dug-out cavities below the ground surface, under stones, or in existing above-ground cavities.
- Observation tip: Preference – pollen from bellflower and evening primrose plants, as well as from legumes
- Observation period: June to September
THE SPRING MESSENGER
Brimstone Butterfly
– Gonepteryx rhamni –
- Characteristics: male wings lemon yellow, female wings greenish white, folded wings slightly reminiscent of a leaf
- Habitat: found in forests, shrubs, gardens, and parks, native to the alpine zone up to the tree line
- Behavior: From February, they suck nectar from liverworts, spurge laurel, and pussy willows. The greenish caterpillars are perfectly camouflaged on their food plants (buckthorn, blackthorn). The feeding marks on the leaves are usually more noticeable than the caterpillars themselves. After pupation, the butterflies emerge in July. They spend the winter under blackberries, grasses, or heather plants. There, they can even withstand temperatures of up to minus 20 °C unharmed.
- Observation tip: Males in spring along forest paths searching for females, a shared, hours-long dance before mating
- Observation time: February to June and mid-July to November
THE UNSEEN
Alder
– Frangula alnus –
- Characteristics: shrub up to 4 m tall, rarely also a smaller tree up to 8 m high, greenish-white flowers, red berries after a long flowering (May to August), later turning into small black stone fruits
- Habitat: forest edges, pine forests and floodplain forests, low moors and light deciduous forests up to 1,500 m
- Use: leaves, berries, and fresh bark are classified as toxic. The laxative effect of the bark was already used in the Iron Age: miners suffered from numerous intestinal parasites, which were first paralyzed with a preparation from wormwood and then "peppered out" with the bark. The wood ash from alder trees was also used in the past to produce gunpowder.
- Observation Tip: nectar-rich flowers sought after by beneficials and insects – loud buzzing during flowering season, the most important caterpillar food plant (besides the buckthorn) of the lemon butterfly
- Observation Time: all year round
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