There is a lot to love about bees.
They are crucial to growing many of our favorite and healthiest foods as they move pollen from plant to plant, pollinating more than a hundred fruits and vegetables including strawberries, potatoes and apples.
Unfortunately, many bee species are under threat as a result of changes in land use, pesticides, intensive agriculture and climate change — but there are steps you can take to help them thrive.
In honor of World Bee Day on May 20, here are five surprising things you might not know about nature’s hardest working pollinators.
1. Bees like to ‘waggle dance’
Bees can communicate and make decisions by dancing.
When a honeybee scouts out and inspects a new nest it uses a waggle dance to advertise and debate its merits. The better the site, the longer and harder the bee dances. If another bee bumps into a dancing bee, she will go off to inspect the site and if she likes it, she, too, will waggle.
