50 false ideas about bees

by Vincent Albouy (writer), Aurélien Ausset (writer)
Collection: Idées fausses
february 2025
165 x 220 format 152 pages
Presale: available from 20/02/2025.
23,00 €
152 pages
To be published on 20 february 2025
To be published on 20 february 2025
Référencer ce produit sur votre site

Summary

The honey bee is the best known and most popular of all bees. It is rarely imagined that there are thousands of different species around the world. To the delight of nature lovers and budding beekeepers alike, these 50 fact sheets, illustrated with over 100 photos, present the wide diversity of bee species and the conditions in which they live, both in the hive and in the wild.

The book dispels misconceptions and misleading generalities about competition between domestic and wild bees, the dependence of flowering plants on bees and the social organisation of colonies, while introducing us to the little-known habits of bumblebees and solitary bees. Based on the experience of a beekeeper combined with the vision of an entomologist, this book also sheds some instructive light on beekeeping.

Table of contents

BEES, THE UNKNOWNS

1 The first bee is as old as diplodocus ... FALSE!

2 If bees disappeared, humanity would survive them for three years ... FALSE!

3 Without bees, there would be no jam for breakfast ... WRONG

4 Honey bees are involved in all forms of pollination ... FALSE!

5 All bees have a stinger ... FALSE !

6 Honey bees compete with wild bees ... NOT SURE!

7 A bee's only defence is its sting ... FALSE!

8 There is only one species of honeybee in the world ... FALSE!

9 Nectar is their only natural source of sugar ... FALSE!

10 Bees can't find their bearings when the sun is hidden ... WRONG

11 Cities are better for bees than the countryside ... NOT SURE!

12 There are no bees beyond the Arctic Circle ... FALSE!

13 In solitary bees, each individual lives alone ... FALSE!

14 Solitary bees do not sting ... WRONG

15 Insect hotels provide good protection for solitary bees ... TO BE DENIED

16 According to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees cannot fly ... FALSE!

17 Bumblebees stock up on honey for the winter ... FALSE!

18 Bumblebee colonies are annual ... WRONG

19 All bumblebees create colonies ... FALSE!

20 The queen runs the hive ... FALSE!

21 A queen honey bee only lives for a year or two ... FALSE!

22 Queen and male bees mate in the nest ... FALSE!

23 In a hive, only the queen can lay eggs ... FALSE !

24 The breeding of new queens is only motivated by swarming ... FALSE!

25 There is only one laying queen in a hive ... WRONG

26 Males do no work in the hive ... TO BE DENIED

27 Honey bees have better immunity than we do ... FALSE!

28 The bee dance is a language of low evolution ... TO BE UNDERMINED

29 Males are always present in the hive ... TO BE DENIED

30 The hexagonal shape of cells is the result of a long evolutionary process ... FALSE!

31 Only honeybees pollinate crops efficiently ... FALSE!

32 Honey bees are defenceless against varroa mites ... FALSE!

33 Honey is liquid ... FALSE!

34 Only the honey bee can produce honey ... FALSE!

35 Prehistoric man was not familiar with beeswax ... FALSE!

36 Honey is the only food supplied to man by the hive ... FALSE!

37 Pollen is a grandmother's remedy ... FALSE!

38 The queen produces royal jelly ... FALSE!

39 Royal jelly can be produced in large quantities ... WRONG

40 Royal jelly is effective against ageing ... NOT SURE!

41 Europeans introduced beekeeping to America ... TO BE DENIED

42 Bees forage up to 3 km around the hive ... TO BE DENIED

43 The smoker calms the bees ... NOT SURE!

44 Beehives are infested with agricultural pesticides ... TO BE AVOIDED

45 Pesticides are the most harmful to honeybees ... TO BE DENIED

46 The Asian hornet, a specialist predator of hive bees ... TO BE DELETED

47 Massive trapping of Asian hornets is necessary ... FALSE!

48 Transhumance is necessary for bees ... FALSE!

49 You can put your hives wherever you want ... FALSE!

50 Hives of all colours confuse the bees ... FALSE!

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ICONOGRAPHIC CREDITS

Press

More contents

Features

Language(s): French

Publisher: Éditions Quae

Edition: 1st edition

Collection: Idées fausses

Published: 20 february 2025

Reference Book: 02985

Reference eBook [PDF]: 02985NUM

Reference eBook [ePub]: 02985EPB

EAN13 Book: 9782759240173

EAN13 eBook [PDF]: 9782759240180

EAN13 eBook [ePub]: 9782759240197

Interior: Colour

Format (in mm) Book: 165 x 220

Pages count Book: 152

Pages count eBook [PDF]: 152

Weight (in grammes): 335

Size: 47 MB (PDF), 32.8 MB (ePub)

Vidéo

--:-- / --:--