Page 37 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

Harun Yahya 35

When bees re-
turn to the hive
pollen-laden,
they either dis-
tribute it to the
other bees or
else store it in
the combs.

Major Cleaning in the Hive
During this period, the third job performed by the worker bees is clean-
ing the hive, which is essential to the health of the colony. Bees of this age
drag outside the hive all sorts of waste material—comb caps that have
served their purpose, the bodies of bees which have died, remains of co-
coons and waste materials from bees that have newly emerged from their
cells—and deposit it some meters away. 21
However, if something is too large for them to carry, they cover it with
a substance known as propolis, also known as bee glue, which they pro-
duce by adding saliva to the sticky resin that they gather from the buds of
some trees. They then collect this substance in special structures called
pollen baskets on their hind legs and carry it back to the hive. One charac-
teristic feature of propolis is that it prevents any bacterial growth. 22
Bees make a particularly accurate use of propolis’s bactericidal quali-

ties. By using it to cover intruding insects that they have killed but which
are too large for them to drag outside the hive, they engage in a kind of
mummification process.
If you carefully consider this last sentence, you will perceive the most
astonishing details. Consider the way in which propolis is used and the
functions performed by the bees.
First of all, bees apparently know that when a living thing dies, its
body will decay and that the substances resulting from its putrefaction

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