Greetings, dear listeners, and welcome back to Scholar Minor.
Spring is here in my part of the world, and my garden is on its way to looking presentable. I have lots of big plans this year including caper bushes, purple yams, and possibly even blueberries - the weather has been so bonkers lately, I’m feeling inspired to do some experimenting. I’ll let you know how it pans out.
Thanks for joining me, as always, and I sincerely hope you enjoy this week’s springtime appropriate discussion about bees.
The nearest Dream recedes - unrealized -
The Heaven we chase,
Like the June Bee - before the School Boy,
Invites the Race -
Stoops - to an easy Clover -
Dips - evades - teases - deploys -
Then - to the Royal Clouds
LIfts his light Pinnace -
Heedless of the boy -
Staring - bewildered - at the mocking sky -
Homesick for steadfast Honey -
Ah, the Bee flies not
That brews that rare variety!
Whether nineteenth century American poet Emily Dickinson is describing an actual bee in her poem "The Nearest Dream Recedes Unrealized" or something symbolic, is up for interpretation. But many folks throughout history, including myself, have been entranced by these strange little insects.
There are more than 20,000 species of bee, and there are varieties living on every continent - with Antarctica the only exception. The bee family, Apoidea, is huge. Bees evolved from wasps, and while some still look pretty similar, their diets are quite different. Wasps eat other insects or are carnivorous, but bees survive primarily on pollen, nectar, and honey, with a few exceptions.
Honey is essentially nectar that has been processed by the bees. As they move from flower to flower, pollen attaches to small hairs on their bodies and allows them to assist in the reproduction of flowers. The National Wildlife Federation reports that bees pollinate 80 percent of all flowering plants. A little later in this episode, we'll talk about how you can help bees and other pollinators do their job in your backyard.
When we talk about bees, you probably are picturing the bumblebee (Bombus) or the domestic honeybee, Apis Mellifera. Both of these bee species exhibit familiar traits - they live in groups, with each nest having a queen and multiple castes dictating their behavior.
Most other species of bee are solitary, however, and individual females take care of their own young without community help. Bumblebees and honeybees, despite being the most popular bees, are generally the exception to the rule.
Solitary bee species usually don’t sting. Female honeybees protecting their hive are the most likely to sting you, though they are only able to do so once in self-sacrifice. This is part of the reason that honeybees will swarm when protecting their hive.
Honeybees create huge colonies with many thousands of other bees, and are the domesticated species we rely on for honey production. Bumblebees only build their hives in the wild, which contain only a couple hundred bees at most. Big, fuzzy bumblebees are more efficient pollinators than their honeybee relatives, and can sting multiple times as they need to, so they don’t generally form swarms.
Honeybees communicate with other members of their colony through dancing - adorable! - and pheromones. All castes of the honeybee community produce pheromones, with the queen bee's dictating the activities of her hive.
According to Laura Borolotti and Celia Costa's Neurobiology of Chemical Communication, a beehive whose queen is ill or too advanced in age to produce pheromones leads to internal chaos - and the colony eventually falls apart and depopulates. Pheromones are bee language - essential for every action from swarming to cleaning, foraging, and mating.
Bees figure prominently in folklore and mythology, which makes sense - petroglyphs in southwest Europe suggest human ancestors were enjoying honey as long as three million years ago. A little more recently - around 10,000 years ago - the honeybee was domesticated. Early systems of beekeeping are depicted in Egyptian and Minoan artwork, and honey was evidently a much-desired product for trade.
The earliest beekeepers constructed mock hives for the bees made from wicker, wood, or clay - sometimes using animal dung to weatherproof them. Human intervention actually changed the habits and, consequently, the evolution of the honeybee. Ella Weber, writing for the University of Michigan, notes that "European beekeepers also affected the natural spread of honey bees by altering their swarming habits.
Honeybees generally swarm due to a food shortage, preparing to relocate to an area with higher flower density. To minimize colony loss, beekeepers in Greece and England would often use wine, flute music, and a great number of other tactics to direct bees into a new, local hive and maintain their population."
While there are bee species indigenous to North America, the European honeybee was introduced to the continent in the 17th century by British colonists. Today, the honey market it worth over 8 billion dollars and there are more than 90 million beehives worldwide - with most of the globe's honey coming from hives in China and Turkey.
The Greeks had a deity specifically dedicated to beekeeping, who we’ve actually encountered here one Scholar Minor before. In our Greek Myths, Part 1: Love episode, we learned the tragic love story of Orpheus and the beautiful nymph, Eurydice.
Escaping from an attacker while out walking, Eurydice was bitten by a venomous snake - which unfortunately, killed her - as she attempted to flee. Some versions of this myth describe the attacker as a satyr, a shepherd, or sometimes as the deity Aristaeus. Aristaeus was the patron deity of beekeeping, and he provided honey to the Gods which they used to make their heavenly food and drink - ambrosia.
Seeking revenge for the death of Eurydice, the other nymphs destroyed Aristaeus' beehives and killed all of his bees. Aristaeus went to his mother, Cyrene, for help. Heeding her advice, and enlisting the aid of the sea god Proteus through some trickery, Aristaeus sacrificed a number of cattle in Eurydice’s honor. Several days later, clouds of new bees emerged from the bodies of the sacrificed animals.
In her book Bees in America, author Tammy Horn tells us that, ". . . once this myth establishes a relationship between bees and cattle, it verifies an agrarian and interdependent civilization promoted as an ideal throughout the centuries." Horn also elaborates upon this myth's connection to the "land of milk and honey" metaphor - bees and cows would continue to be associated for many thousands of years.
Bees feature prominently in India's Rig-Veda, and there are many myths associating the Hindu gods and bees. Bees were fundamentally tied to the forces of life, death, and love - appearing in the symbolism of Vishnu and his incarnation, Krishna.
The Goddess Bhrami, one of the many manifestations of Pavarti, enlisted the assistance of a swarm of black bees during her battle with the demon Arunasura. In Indian mythology and tradition, bees also have a close association with love. The string of the bow carried by the god of love, Kama, was even made from bees.
While the European honeybee was introduced to North and South America through colonization, there were plenty of bee species indigenous to these regions already. The Aztec and Maya practiced beekeeping, usually the species Melipona beecheii. Though this species does not sting, they do bite to protect their hives. Honey and wax were used for ceremonial and medicinal purposes. These peoples still practice traditional methods of beekeeping using hollowed-out tree sections. Mayan and Aztec art depict deities participating in the collection and distribution of honey.
African honeybees are very similar to European honeybees. They are a little smaller and generally more aggressive when protecting their hives - a threatened hive of African honeybees will pursue an attacker for a much longer distance, compared to their European relatives. African honeybees are also important spiritual symbols for many African cultures.
The South African National Biodiversity institute tells us that Xhosa view a swarm of bees as ancestral messengers, and that they should be treated - and spoken to - with respect. The Pedi culture similarly views bees as representative of their ancestors and believe in allowing a swarm to leave of its own accord.
As you might imagine, there are many, many superstitions related to bees as well. One of the primary ones that popped up in my research is the association of honey and smoooooth-talkin'. If you have an event, performance, or date coming up, enjoying honey beforehand is said to make your speech more eloquent and your conversation irresistible.
The 1903 Encyclopaedia of Superstitions has several pages worth of advice for us when it comes to bee signs. "It is unlucky to kill a bee," the Encyclopedia warns, "as it is the only insect that came direct from Paradise unchanged; therefore other animals perish, but bees die." If your beehive isn't flourishing, we are advised to sing a psalm in front of the hives.
Bees have been with us since our earliest days, and they need our help! Bee populations have been steadily declining, due to habitat loss, global warming, and pollution. Pollinator-friendly gardening has become much more popular in recent years.
To help out your local bee populations, consider opting for native plant species instead of boring old lawns. The bee species native in your area will thank you. Many local horticultural groups, or even your local gardening center, can provide you with ideas on what to plant to save water and save the bees.
Thanks for joining me once again, folks. We recently passed 1,000 downloads and I couldn’t be more grateful for all of your support.
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Be safe, take care, and until next time.