3 / 23 / 22 , 10:09 AM Celebrate World Bee Day - City of Arlington
Celebrate World Bee Day
Celebrate World Bee Day By Office of Communication Posted on Thursday , May 20 , 2021
World Bee Day raises awareness about the importance of bees and other pollinators in our ecosystem . It is celebrated May 20 in honor of Anton Jansa who is considered a pioneer of modern beekeeping . Anton Jansa was born in 1734 in Breznica , Carniola which is in modern day Slovenia . He studied engraving and painting with his brothers in Vienna . However , his passion and fascination for bees , which was developed at a very young age , inspired him to become a beekeeper . As an imperial beekeeper for the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa , he traveled the Austrian empire providing lectures on bees and beekeeping . He also wrote two books on beekeeping and popularized the method of smoking bees to collect honey . His most important contribution was changing the size and shape of hives to a form where they could be stacked together like blocks . Because he was a painter , Jansa decorated the drawers of his hives with paintings . These were typically decorated with characters and scenes from folk tales .
Remembering Anton Jansa ’ s contributions and other beekeeping pioneers should be an important part of celebrating World Bee Day , but we should also use this day to learn how to protect bees and other pollinators and pledge to help create and conserve pollinator habitat . It is common knowledge that honey bees provide important food like honey , royal jelly and pollen but propolis , beeswax and even honey bee venom are used in a variety of products especially in the healthcare field . Most importantly , bees and other pollinators are responsible for pollinating 90 percent of flowering plants and more than 70 percent of the world ’ s agricultural crops . Pollination is the process by which plants produce seeds and thus reproduce .
A variety of animals help facilitate that process and are called pollinators . Pollinators such as bees , butterflies , moths , bats and hummingbirds provide the vital ecological service of pollination . These pollinators are essential to natural ecosystems and the human food supply . Pollinators face increasing threats from intensive farming practices , land-use changes , habitat loss , introduced diseases and pesticide use .
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