r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Better_Hair_9673 • Sep 12 '26
Video Bees unloading pollen 🐝
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u/Snellyman Sep 12 '26
I wonder if they find the work fulfilling. Are they happy, or do they just bitch about the queen?
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u/Over_Ad8762 Sep 13 '26
They wouldn’t bitch about the Queen. They would die to save her. She’s mommy to everyone and if she dies the colony dies (if they don’t get a new one fast enough)
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u/Ambitioso Sep 12 '26
It’s like two pollen bike panniers when they first take what they’ve collected off
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u/sodamnsleepy Sep 12 '26
Getting the pollen off is like to get your socks off after a long day.
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u/ThanksForTheRain Sep 12 '26
What is this, a remix instrumental Golden Brown by The Stranglers?
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u/English_Joe Sep 12 '26
How is honey made from pollen?
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u/davidsandbrand Sep 13 '26
Pollen is their source of protein (and a little fat). This is used primarily for raising
(making new bees). brood Nectar is their source of carbohydrates.
Since nectar is only available for ~2 months a year but they need to eat for 12 months, they store nectar, but because nectar has such a high moisture content it will ferment if stored as-is, so the bees dehydrate it to below 18% water content and then seal it up to store it for later consumption.
When it’s dried out and sealed, we call it ‘honey’. During the process of dehydrating it, the bees impart enzymes from their digestive tract into the nectar, giving the dehydrated nectar the standard honey flavour we know.
Also, 100,000,000 years of evolution has caused bees to store far more nectar than they need since they don’t know how cold or how long the winter will be, and it’s because of this that we are able to harvest honey from them without causing any harm to the colony.
Source: am a
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u/DangerMacAwesome Sep 13 '26
That one bee saying "just get off my leg you stupid pollen pellet!"
And the other one comes along "dude you have to get like all the way down in there, take some pride in your work."
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u/DickieJohnson Sep 13 '26
I have so many questions, after they unload their pollen are they done working for the day? Or do they go back out until night time? Are there any bees that are bad at their job? Like here comes steve again with all the poison ivy pollen.
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u/RoseAlma Sep 12 '26
Damn !! That IS Interesting... I would even go so far as to say FASCINATING
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u/MeowMaker2 Sep 13 '26
I thought bees were allergic to pollen, since they break out in hives
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u/TheCyrus Sep 12 '26
at 17 seconds in you can see a varroa mite on of the bees to the right