News Quiz: The Buzz on Bees

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Bees aren't just mindless drones; they talk to one another, too. Which of the following is not a form of bee communication?

dancing

bumping

beeping

hopping

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

Honeybees don't only waggle dance to tell hive-mates the whereabouts of good eats; they also bump and beep to warn others when big trouble awaits at some of those floral diners.

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Human architects could learn a thing or two from the unique bee species, Osmia avosetta,, which builds beautiful nests out of what material?

wood

paper scraps

flower petals

tomato peels

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

You are correct! This bee species makes a "petal sandwich" out of two layers flower petals inside a small burrow it digs in the ground, cementing them together with clay or mud. Then it caps the chamber with a mud plug, which seals the humidity inside while letting the outside harden.

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What's the nickname given to beekeepers who take part in DIY technology to improve their trade?

iBees

Bee Hackers

Bee Fans

Bee People

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

Tom Rearick, an electrical engineer, has launched the website BeeHacker.com, and hopes it will become a hub of on-the-cheap development of appropriate technology for beekeepers.

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Flies possess the fastest vision, but how is the bee's vision superlative?

It can spot a flower from a mile away.

It is the fastest color vision in the animal kingdom.

Bees possess special X-ray vision to spot pollen.

Bees are actually blind.

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

Bees' lightning-fast color vision enables the insects to zip through forests and trees, escape predators, spot each other and otherwise deal with their world in fast forward.

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A genetically unique population of the same honeybee that's now the prime pollinator in the United States has been living in isolation from other bees for the last 10,000 years, and it's free from the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. Where does this marooned population of bees call home?

Honey, Limpopo, South Africa

Honey Bee Island, Ontario

A Saharan oasis in Kufra, Libya

Bužinija, Hrvatska

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

Shifting climate patterns turned a verdant ancient savanna into today's parched Sahara Desert. In Kufra, Libya, an oasis surviving off groundwater has marooned this now genetically unique population of Apis mellifera honeybee.

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Why do bees always hover 13 millimeters (half an inch) from a surface before they land?

Scientists have no idea, the bees just do it.

They are having second thoughts about landing.

Bees are very short-sighted, so they have to see the surface up close.

It's part of a landing maneuvre called the "tentative bee touchdown."

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

No matter what orientation the surface is, bees always hover 13 millimeters from the surface. So far, scientists aren't sure why they do it.

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Which of these animals is NOT a pollinator?

ant

lizard

lemur

cow

You're right! Sorry, that's incorrect.

More than 100,000 different animal species, and maybe as many as 200,000, play roles in pollinating 250,000 kinds of flowering plants. Insects are the most common pollinators, but as many as 1,500 species of vertebrates, such as birds and mammals, also pollinate. Among them are hummingbirds, perching birds, flying foxes, fruit bats, possums, lemurs and even a lizard. (source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

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