Page 62 - Devotion Among Animals Revealing the Work of God

DEVOTION AMONG ANIMALS

Nests that Other Creatures Build:
Bumblebees
Bumblebees display quite interesting dedication. The young
queen, just before it's time to lay her eggs, starts seeking out a suitable
place to start her own colony. Once she determines the location, she be-
gins gathering the building materials she needs to upholster her hive—
feathers, leaves, and grass—and also as insulation material.
First, with material collected in the vicinity, she builds in the cen-
ter of the nest a small chamber the size of a tennis ball. Then it's time to
gather food. On leaving, she flies in circles in the air above her nest, fac-
ing it at all times, so as to memorize its location. After collecting nectar
and pollen for food, she returns and deposits her loads into the center
of the chamber.
The queen feeds on nectar and, after a certain time, begins to se-
crete beeswax. She doesn't discard the portion of nectar that she cannot
consume, but lets it dry and uses it to bond together the building mate-
rials she's collected to construct the chamber. She fills the cells she has
made with nectar for food, and places a tiny lump of pollen in the bot-
tom of the other cells and lays white eggs on top, which will hatch into
the first worker bees. The cells are sealed with more wax and the queen
bee keeps them warm until they hatch.
She does not lay her
new eggs randomly, but
places them symmetrically
and with utmost care.
However, equally important
as the hatching of the eggs is
feeding the young. Their
food is ready in the cells
filled by nectar by the queen
bee. After an incubation pe-
The devoted bumblebees.

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