Page 61 - The Miracle of the Honeybee

Harun Yahya 59

food. As a result of this demanding activity, the foragers’ brood food and
wax glands soon degenerate. They also lose their hair after a total flight
distance of about 800 kilometers (500 miles), and their flight muscles wear
42
out. Worker bees usually die while on duty, outside the hive.
The new individuals that hatch out in the autumn will assume charge
of maintaining the colony. Since the emergence of these bees coincides
with the beginnings of winter, they are unable to leave the hive and must
live off foodstuffs already stored by previous generations of workers.
Despite the short life spans of the bees that make up the colony, the
colonies themselves are rather long-lived—so much so, in fact, that bar-
ring such circumstances as fire and drought, they are able to survive for 20
years or more.

Bees Emerged in a Single Moment
In examining the lives of bees, the point to concentrate on is how all the
functions in the hive are performed by thousands of individuals, and yet,
despite those large numbers, there is never the slightest confusion or dis-
order. The larvae never go hungry. Defense is never neglected, nor is the

Foragers returning home with their pollen baskets full. This task of carrying pollen, which the
workers perform during the final stages of their lives, is an exceedingly tiring one. Their bodies
become damaged during the course of it, and they die shortly afterwards.

Adnan Oktar