The Honey Bee as a Significant task in Agriculture

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Since 1992, the honey bee has been Oklahoma’s state insect, largely because honey bees convey such a significant task in agriculture. The honey bee and its contributions to our world dates back thousands of years and continues to be by far one of the most extraordinary creatures ever. Honey bees and the products they emit have many diverse uses in cultures around the world. Today honey bees are being used in research to detect drugs, bombs and cancer. Also, in developing treatments for an array of infirmities in humans, but this is just a few among many things that honey bees have contributed to the human world. The most essential to humans of all things that honey bees have contributed to our world is pollination. Honey bees are responsible for 80% of all insect pollination. They pollinate over ninety fruit and vegetable crops worldwide. If the honey bee were to vanish from the world it would leave us with limited food selection and possibly worse. Albert Einstein once said “If the honey bees become extinct, mankind will follow within four years.” To better comprehend how vital the honey bee is to our world we must first understand more about the honeybee itself. Honey bees have been around before written history, they have traced back over 40 million years ago and have remained physically and socially unchanged for 30 million years. Honey bees are not native to North America and are thought to have originated in tropical Africa. They are thought to have been conveyed here by Spanish and English colonists. Honey bees live together as a community called a colony. A colony entails of one queen, hundreds of male honey bees called drones and thousands of female honey bees known as workers. Honey bee colonies can reach up to 80,000 be...

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Hammond, G. and M Blankenship. Apis Mellifera. 2009. web. 3 March 2014. .>.

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Khot, Anna. Humble Honey Bee National Security. 1 October 2010. article. 25 February 2014. .

Layton, Julia. How can you train honeybees to sniff for bombs? 2006 November 2006. article. 26 February 2014. .

Mercola, Dr. Joseph. The Latest Weapon in the War on Cancer: Honeybees. 24 November 2012. web. 24 February 2014.

More, Daphne. The Bee Book: The History and Natural History of the Honeybee. New York: Universe Books, 1976. Print.

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