A honey bee is an insect - how can you tell?

Photo copyright BBKA Claire Waring.
ten things to do to help the honey bees (35 KB)
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A honey bee is an insect and has a body in three parts, a head, a thorax and an abdomen. It has three pairs of jointed legs, feelers or antennae, and usually two pairs of wings.
In addition it will have:-
- a hard skeleton that is on the outside of its body (with holes for breathing)
- a small size (0.02cm to 11.5cm in length) which allows it to reproduce to easily
- it will hatch from an egg
- it will undergo metamorphasis as it grows (the insect's body changes from an adult form through a major change in its body tissues).
Our honey bee has many extra special extras:
- It has 5 eyes and can see ultra violet light.
- It can fly.
- It uses the sun and other landmarks to find its way.
- It can dance to show other bees where to find food.
- It has special 'baskets' made of stiff, curving hairs on its back legs, to carry pollen back to the hive.
- It has a sting (ouch!) to defend itself - but when it stings a human the bee dies!!
- It is a social insect - it lives in a colony with other honey bees. Each bee works in co-operation with others, for the good of the colony as a whole.
- It feeds on flowers (nectar and pollen) and pollinates (fertilises) the flowers at the same time.
- It builds honeycomb nests and makes honey.
- It survives the winter by eating stored honey and keeping warm with the other bees.
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