Hooo-Hooo Hooo-Hooo Volume 12 Issue 03 | Page 12

WildLife Group of the SAVA A few interesting facts about bees: • • • • Bees found dead at a local farm a project researching the honeybees’ forage resource requirements. Although Cape honeybees are not officially under threat, they are a crucial part of the ecosystem and important pollinators of flowering plants, including many Fynbos species. Honeybees are used to pollinate about 50 crops across South Africa, including deciduous fruit and vegetables that grow in the Cape region. • • A honeybee can fly 24km in an hour at a speed of 15mph. Its wings beat 200 times per second or 12,000 beats per minute. A beehive in summer can house as many as 50 000 to 80 000 bees. A single bee would need to collect nectar from about two million flowers to make one pound of honey. Collecting this quantity requires the labour of 556 worker bees, who have to fly more than once around the world to gather it. The average worker bee makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. Every 3rd mouthful of food has been produced thanks to bees pollinating crops. Flowering plants rely on bees for pollination so that they can produce fruit and seeds. Without bees, there would be no fruits or vegetables to eat. A single beehive can make more than 100 pounds (45 kg) of extra honey. The beekeeper only harvests the extra honey Source: https://www.capetownetc.com/news/swarms-of-cape-bees-die/ Congress of the Wildlife Group of the SAVA 2019 Wildlife Group of the South African Veterinary Association 07 - 09 MARCH Misty Hills Conference Centre, JHB REGISTER / MORE INFO: http://bit.ly/2QJ8ESU 12 www.vetlink.co.za [email protected] 012 346 1590