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Bumblebee Queen, The
A bumblebee queen only lives one year, but in that short time she can create colonies of hundreds of bees. Follow one queen as she finds a nest, gathers nectar, lays eggs, and tends her colony through spring, summer, and fall.
Almost 4,000 kinds of bees are native to the United States. Yet the bee that most people know, the honeybee, is not a native species; it was brought here by European settlers. Honeybees are used to make honey and to pollinate crops.
Native bees pollinate many plants that honeybees do not. Bumblebees can pollinate by a special process called "buzz pollination." When a bumblebee flies, its hair builds up a static charge. It enters the flower and grabs one of the flower's anthers (the long stalks that contain the pollen). The bumblebee shakes the anther and makes a loud buzzing noise. The pollen, shaken from inside the anther, is attracted by the electostatic charge of the bee. So it jumps a short distance and sticks to the bee! Honeybees cannot pollinate eggplant and tomato flowers; bumblebees can. So whenever you eat a tomato . . . thank a bumblebee.
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作者： Sayre, April Pulley
绘画：
Wynne, Patricia J.
出版社：
Charlesbridge Books
时长：
7 minutes
Reading Level Automatic:
Grade K-2
Reading Level Manual:
Grade K-2
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