World Bee Day

 Happy World Bee Day! 

The first World Bee Day was held on May 20, 2014. This day was proposed by the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association to raise awareness of the importance of bees and the pollination process. It's also on this day in 1734 that Anton Jansa, a pioneering figure in beekeeping, was baptized. This was done with the support of the Slovenian government. In 2015, this initiative would become international thanks to Apimondia, aka the International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations.

Beekeeping has been practiced by humanity since the days of ancient Egypt and Greece. The Mayans also practiced it in pre-Columbian times.

Bees are very important to ecologies because they are pollinators. They help flowering plants reproduce. As a result, bees can be found in every continent except for Antarctica, naturally.

(too cold)

The most common kind of bee is the Halictidae, or the sweat bees. They're called that because they're believed to be attracted to sweat. There are 4,500 species of bee in this family. The largest bee family is the Apidae family, with over 5,700 bee species. Halictidae bees are the most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere. 

It's estimated that about a third of the human food supply comes from flowering plants. Thing is, bees are under threat. And there are a lot of reasons why. Pesticide usage, loss of habitat, disease, and climate change. Farmers have been working to mitigate this, mainly by planting native flowering plants to encourage bee population growth. 

Bees are important and fascinating little critters. They also are the reason you may enjoy honey. You can learn more about the importance of World Bee Day here. Thanks for reading this blog entry! See you next time!