What is a Bumblebee Insect? It's 🐝 vs 🐝 - A Bumblebee vs Honeybee Showdown!
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- ***Hi everyone! Interested in helping bumble bees 🐝 in your own backyard? 🏡 Check out my infographic for a bunch of fun ways you can help, including something called a seed bomb 🌼💣! pin.it/5HUVqyS ***
Welcome! Today we’re answering the question, what is a bumblebee, and how is it different from a honeybee? It’s a bumblebee vs honeybee showdown!
First off, all bees are insects. Their closest relatives are wasps and ants, and they all have 6 legs. Both bumblebees and honeybees belong to a group of insects called the “corbiculate” bees, or bees which have a pollen basket. This is my new favourite thing. As they travel from flower to flower corbiculate bees have a little pouch where they store the pollen they collect. Think of it as a bee stopping at the market to fill up a tiny messenger bag with groceries and you’re not far off!
Now let’s talk about the differences. Honeybees are smaller and thinner than bumblebee insects, and they have more of a defined segmentation between their head and their abdomen. They also have two distinct sets of wings. They actually kind of look like wasps!
Bumblebees the insect on the other hand are your classic bee. They are larger, fluffier and, and you can’t see any divisions in their body. Bumblebees have two sets of wings, but the back wings are smaller and attached to the front wings with little hooks, so it kind of looks like they only have one. This is part of the reason for the myth that bumblebee the insect flight somehow defies the laws of physics (spoiler alert: it doesn’t).
Are bumblebee insects dangerous? Both bees have stingers which they use to defend themselves and their hives, however, unlike wasps and hornets, bees rarely sting unless they are provoked. In any event, avoiding agitating these animals is always a good strategy, as it is possible to have serious allergies to their stings.
Honey bees are highly social insects, they build large honeybee hives and produce and store a LOT of honey. Each honeybee hive can house up to 50,000 bees, and can produce up to 200 pounds of honey per year! That’s a lot of honey!
Where do bumblebees live? Bumblebee insects also live in hives, however their homes are much smaller, often housing only 250 individuals. Do Bumblebee insects make honey? Not really. They do store pollen in little wax pots that look similar to the Honeycombs that you’re used to, which along with nectar, is fed to developing larvae, the baby bees.
If you’ve seen a honeybee, I’ll bet it was the Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), which was domesticated in Europe almost 10 thousand years ago. The Western Honey Bee has since spread all over the world and is responsible for the delicious honey that we buy at the grocery store. There is even honey that was buried for years with Egyptian mummies and is still fresh! While the Western Honey Bee is one of only about 7 honey bee species worldwide, There are many wild species of bumblebee the insect all over the world. Canada alone has over 40 species of native bumblebee insects! Because they have evolved alongside many of our native plants, they play a critical role in maintaining our ecosystems and many of our favourite crops.
Why do honeybees make so much honey? They use that honey to feed on during the winter to stay alive when there is no food for them to collect, in a process called overwintering.
Now that we know some of the differences between honeybees vs bumblebee insects, does it matter? Honeybees and bumblebees are both important pollinators, which means that when they fly around to flowers collecting pollen and nectar to eat, they also transfer pollen between those flowers, helping plants make seeds that will eventually grow into the next generation. Pollination is critical to the food we eat, and most of the plants we love.
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Content Sources
Williams, P. H., Thorp, R. W., Richardson, L. L., & Colla, S. R. (2014). Bumble bees of North America: an identification guide. Princeton University Press.
I thought bumblebees were solitary, are some species solitary and others more social?
Its a great question! Bumblebees are all social, but there are other groups of large fuzzy bees that are solitary that look really similar. For example, In Ontario we have carpenter bees and mason bees. These bees are all solitary and don't live in hives. One of the main differences is they don't have that pollen basket that bumble bees use to bring pollen and nectar back to their hives to feed the baby bees 🐝
Very bad
@@aradhyasingh2979 what
Solitary bees are their own category of bee, just like bumbles are, and honeys are. There are multiple species in each category. It's true, some of the solitary bees can look very fuzzy and be easy to mistake for bumbles! Different species of solitary bee are really varied in looks; some even look like ants (ants are very closely related to bees).
Another mistakable trait is that they can sometimes be observed living in what might look like colonies. This is because some nesting spots are just simply good places to live, so many solitary bees sometimes nest close together. However they still don't help each other out - they live the same as they would if they were spread out.
I was at my community pool and had a bumble bee that seemed very aggressive around me. Even after swatting my towel to get it away, it still came after me! Why did that happen. Is it possible the tanning lotion I had on was sweet smelling 😱. It scared me so bad I am afraid to go back.
Well, bumble bees do make honey, but it's not the same texture as honey bee honey, and unlike honey bees they don't make loads of spare honey. That's why it's okay to take honey from honey bees; they make so much of it that there is no bad consequence. If you took honey from bumble bees, as well as not getting much of it, you'd risk destroying the nest. That's because honeys and bumbles kinda have opposite approaches to organisation - honey bees are big advance planners, and make everything perfectly and to excess before using any of it. Whereas bumble bees are the sort to add on an extra bit as-and-when-needed, and use everything right after it's made. That's why the honey bee wax pods are perfectly hexagonal, whereas the bumble bee wax pods look like a mess of haphazardly tacked-on spheres. Both arrangements are beautiful in their own way of course, and entirely suited to that type of bee. :)
I love how you fold in the bee personality, its a great explanation!
@@SciencewithMrHarris thankyou! This has cheered me up so much after a frustrating day full of cancelled trains. :D
3-4 bumble bees visit my balcony garden everyday! Thanks for enlightening us about them. 🐝
@@ut2502 that is brilliant! Gardens are great for bumbles, they rely on urban spaces a lot more than they used to have to historically when there were a lot more wildflower fields. I don't have a garden myself, so I support a charity for them instead. But if you do, then you are brilliant for bees! :)
Nice info drop
I have 2 bumblebees that have been visiting for the past few days. One even landed on my leg. Yeah, we are friends now 🥰
Yay bee friends!
On the stinging part: Unlike honeybees, bumblebees don't lose their stinger after use nor do they die, so they can sting multiple times. They are however even less aggressive than the honeybees, they usually don't sting unless really provoked, and even then they usually warn first.
Im glad because the poor beed die after stingers but atleest bumblebee dont
@@Yourlocalhannah it's because honey bees developed barbed stingers, unlike the normal smooth ones other bees have. That's why they die - they get stuck and die trying to pull away. It's a very weird evolution for sure, and a very sad consequence.
Bumble bees have never stang me, when I pick them up, if they are on the street. The bumble bees don't sting, unless they are under attack
@@rachaelpereira1386 Bumblebees are extremely laid back, they'll never sting unless you're actively trying to hurt them. I picked them up a lot to pet them, when I was a kid, or I would carry them out of the house if one was stuck inside. If they land on you, you can either brush them gently away, or you can leave them if you like the company, that is up to you. They will be on their way shortly anyway, usually they've got things to do.
It's very bad luck to kill a bumblebee 🐏🐝
I actually have a natural Bumblebee hive near my house, I’ve seen so many pollinating and I actually got to see the queen. It’s so cool getting to see so many bees in my yard and it’s so cool getting to see any bee for that matter.
Wow that's awesome! Have you been able to identify the species? 👑🐝
@@SciencewithMrHarris I think it’s a Two-spotted bumblebee from memory, I’ll need to wait until next year in order to get a better look at them.
@@ZekDraco Wow that's awesome, you really know your bees! Thanks for sharing!
We don’t need more golf courses...
I know right!
More golf courses would be a great thing if only they were less about designed perfection and more about natural beauty. If they could incorporate wild spaces rather than eschewing them, they'd still look brilliant, and still pose an athletic challenge, but they'd be good for the environment instead of bad for it.
"All Bees are insects" Thanks for that one, homie.
lol glad i could help 😉
:)
Oh, bee nice
Idc about my silly phobia, save the bees y'all, we need our sweet bumbly honey friends 💕💕💕💕💕💕
You can be like me and appreciate them from afar :)
@@SciencewithMrHarris Always :) 💗
Bumblebees are less affected by weather, and can handle colder, rainier, and I'm guessing windier too, conditions, which makes them more reliable at pollination.
If I ever become a teacher I'm showing my class this video as soon as possible, I love bees!!
That's awesome! Glad you like the video!!
This video was great! I have a paper on insects and I chose bees, and this video was very educational. I love bees and this was very good! Thank you so much for making this amazing video!
Glad it was helpful!
oversimplified:
Bumblebee: Fuzzy ball of fluff that flies
Honey bee: The important CFO ( Cheif FINANCIAL Officer )
Wasp: Flying killers.
Hornet: Can't even describe how murderous those monsters are.
I love this!
Wasps are still an important part of the ecosystem nonetheless (and hornets are actually a type of wasp, just a very big scary one). Bees actually evolved from wasps to begin with, so they've been around longer too.
Giant hornets: *I WILL BURN THIS CO-- AAAAAAAAQ JAPANESE BEES AAAAAA*
There’s 5 bumble bees pollinating my flowers right now as I watch this lol.
amazing 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
I see tons of bees and bumblebees in the garden. Bumblebees usually pretty early and they are huge if you see them early because they are most likely queens. I've never been stung by either even though I did lead one to crawl on my hand to put them in a flower when they were tired walking on the ground. Recen years I spot more and more insects I've never seen like the hummingbird hawk moth which I found fascinating animals.
Why do bumblebees get diseases while working in greenhouses?
I'm a beekeeper myself, and I'm thinking about making a bumblebee hive but not so sure when you said about these diseases :|
You can definitely make a bumblebee nest, I think its a great idea. Bumblebees in greenhouses are kept in conditions that are unlike the conditions they would experience in the wild, which stresses them out. These stressed out bees are more prone to disease because their immune systems don't work as well when they're stressed (Just like people!). When those stressed and sick bees come into contact with wild bees, especially closely related bees, they can pass on disease. A backyard bumblebee nest shouldn't place anywhere near the stress on the bees that a greenhouse would, so it should be fine!
Got to love Canadian content! Ontario here!
Amazing I'm from Ontario too! Hopefully we get to see some of the early bumblebees soon, like the yellow-banded bumble bee 🐝 Thanks for the comment!
I have a honey bee that comes into my house several times per day. I have a large yellow backpack which I think upon first discovery it thought to be a giant flower. In the last 3 days, it has come in about 8 times to the same place, even though I've moved the bag. I have to stand up and gently coax it back out of the window. No dramas. I suspect the bee has locked in this precise location and returns on its route every so often. Fascinating. I'm sure its the same bee as it always goes to the same spot, looks confused, has a chill and then goes away.
that’s very cool! fascinating they can find their way back to the same flowers day after day
I know what a Yellow Jacket is but I've not heard of the Yellow Backjack.
@@xScooterAZxgood one! 😅😂😅
It might be different bees, actually. Honey bees communicate harvesting locations via their 'waggle dance' and it's very accurate. So it could be several bees following the same instruction from an earlier scout who imagined she saw a very large flower.
Bees are adorable, don't know how well i would react to one in my house randomly apearing..
Bumblebees are so big and fluffy, with those little wings, you can't even imagine how they fly!
I know, right?
Little fatties flying 😅
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.
They fly in a figure-8 pattern which makes little air vortexes, creating lift. Their wings are very fast and their bodies although looking big due to having extra fuzz are still very lightweight. The wing muscles can actually be 'locked in gear' (so the wings don't move) and this technique warms up queens in winter post-hibernation - so powerful as to instantly raise the body temperature just from the effort!
It takes a lot of energy of course, which is why they crawl around a lot, to conserve energy. Any foraging bumble bee is only about 20mins flight away from deadly exhaustion at any one point (decreasing as they get more heavily-laden with pollen). That's why they depend on the flowers in wild spaces and gardens so much. Nectar for the journey, and pollen to take back to the nest.
u really have done some sort of phD on bees haven't you
Idk who you are mr harris but i wish you were my teacher back when I was in elementary school, and also middle school, and also high school, and before I dropped out of college cause maybe I wouldn’t have lul. I love these chonky bois
he chonky but he still protecc the queen
he chonky but he still attacc meanies
but most of all he succ the flowers nectar like a good book, bee boi employee of the month
Hahaha I wish you were my student, I love this so much!!! Thanks for the kind words :)
When it comes to bees, the first thing I think about is stingers.
Not the honey?
@@nehemialalang7878 I like honey as much as the next guy, but I'm afraid of getting stung.
@@darwinskeeper421same! I'm allergic to them.
Ants do look similar to wasp I just noticed that lol
In my day nickels had pictures of bumblebees on them.
Gimme five bees for a quarter!
@@SciencewithMrHarris Like the time I caught the ferry to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days.
Bumble bees have quite a sting. Yow!! Treat em right and you are safe.
I live in London Ontario but I don't know which specie of bumblebee lives here. I'd like to know so that way I can set up planters on my balcony and choose the right kind of flower that they like in my region. Do you know which bumblebee species live in and around London? That would certainly help me out. Thanks!
Hey! I would recommend checking out the Bumble Bee Watch app - it has info on bumble bee species that you can filter by region (apps.apple.com/us/app/bumble-bee-watch/id1112626392) That should give you a good idea of what's common in and around Southern Ontario. To choose what kind of plants they like there's a great resource here where you can find good pollinator friendly plants by ecoregion! www.pollinator.org/guides-canada. Good luck! 🐝
I thought all bees made honey 🍯. But this video helped me to learn more about bees
I'm so glad to have helped you learn about the wonderful world of bees! 🐝
Thank you very much.
It's just yellow car 😅
I noticed a hole in some wood that is used to support the electrical fixture at my job upon further inspection I realized that it was done by a bumblebee I had no Idea they did this
That’s so cool, thanks for sharing! it actually might have been a carpenter bee! They’re super easy to mix up. check out my video on how to tell the difference! ua-cam.com/video/CkyJpDZ43Uc/v-deo.html
It was a carpenter bee
I can see at least 5 bumblebees in my garden at any given time. I wonder how could i locate the hive? Any help is much appreciated.
They tend to nest in on the ground in natural hollows or in abandoned rodent nests. You could try listening for the hive or watching them to see where they return to. Best of luck, and remember to keep your distance!
I've a large bumblebee nest under my garage door.I know they won't attack unless provoked but they are a nuisance because of their location. I don't want to kill them but I've tried several non lethal methods and they do nothing to remove them.
You could try getting a non killing bee removed to remove them and place them into a new hive?
my understanding is the usual life cycle involves queens leaving the hives to hibernate in the soil and all the other bees dying off. Not sure if this would work in your specific instance, but you could try waiting it out and sealing up the hole come the fall.
Wilson Edward Young Shirley Wilson Robert
Bumblebees are social, but are also solitary. They don't have any social organization!!!
I forget that not all bees make honey lol
You said there were 3 things that directly caused the death of bumblebee's MB's, but I only see one. And that is us and pretty fucking shitty
Pollination
They build the eggs, larves...in balls and not in a hexagon, as honeybees do😉
Yes! You're right - and their hives also don't live in trees, rather on the ground. One of the artistic licenses I took in this video that I would change if I could!
@@SciencewithMrHarris yes right👍👍
@@SciencewithMrHarris there is a species of bumble bee that does make a nest in trees (and other high-up spaces), they are called "tree bees", a very unusual type of bumble bee that also has a different style of courting ritual as well (that can be mistaken for swarming but is actually dancing). They like bird boxes. :) I am in England, they are not native to here but they are quite widespread. Most bumbles do not look for high-up spaces, so they are definitely an anomaly.
@@Torthrodhel in Austria they are in free nature👌👍very much of them
@@matthiasbrugger9975 that's so awesome! I am a bit obsessed with bumbles. :) I have to imagine. Do you have a lot of wildflower fields over there for them to enjoy? Sadly industry destroyed most of ours over here, and the bees are really struggling and have to rely more on gardens.
(Eastern) African + Middle East are much older civilizations with honey cultivation that pre-dates European.
Brown Eric Davis Jennifer Rodriguez Amy
Bumblebees can sting multiple times and honeybees not?
Yeah! Crazy right? They're much less likely to sting than wasps, hornets and honey bees though
Beehive
hehehehehehehhehehe
I just keep planting flowers and leaving the downed trees in my bush. The bumbles have really increased over the last ten years in my yard.
Thank you for the answer I was looking for, in such a good way too!
You're so welcome, glad it was helpful!
I had no idea they pollinated so much more than honey bees. I have a couple of nests in logs on my property. They will never sting. I accidently cut a rotten log and exposed a hive. They did nothing but tend the nest. I left everything the best I could.
I love the animation!!!
Thank you! 🐝
Google is amazing. I have loads of bumble bees in the area where i live. I love watching them. The reason i googled bumble bees is i wasn't too sure of what i was looking at. Google lead me right to this vid. ##highereducation
#savethebees
When I think of a honey bee,I think it lives in a large hive.
You're right, honey bees live in hives much larger than any other type of bee. They can have communities as large as 10,000 individuals compared to bumble bees which max out at about 800 and you normally get something more like 200. Then you have solitary bees that don't live in groups at all. Bees are so varied!
Also honey bees are big advance planners and build the whole hive before making use of it, whereas bumbles are the opposite and just add a pod on whenever necessary. Honey bees are the only ones accurate enough for the pods to be perfectly tesselating hexagons... bumble bee pods are spheres tacked on to bunches of other spheres with little symmetry at all.
Honey bees are the only ones living in a large enough group to have the combined body heat to overwinter in the same hive. Bumbles have to hibernate as individual queens in little holes and begin a new nest each year, and have short lifespans (especially so for the non-queens).
Pollen is not a thing! It’s a kwami from miraculous
علابلك ونجي نعيش معاك شحال يعجبك الحال علابلك الفقر شحال واعر شحال نكرهو ربو
We rescued a bumblebee hive over the weedend. Please check out what we did and give us any feedback.
Killed many the wasp, never touched a bee. Never even got a sting from a bee. Compare that to wasps, i was eating lunch outside one day and next thing theres a swarm of the cunts all around me. Dunno hiw many times i got stung but it was enough
bees > wasps
Only and cutest insects, BB powa 🐝
علابلك واش سفريت واحد منظر فيا
TO say honey bees look anything like a wasp is a stretch lol
What an educative video, thanks for sharing this information!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Bumble Bess do no die after they sting.
bumblebees also produce a bit of honey
Only watched this vid to see if the bees near my house will sting me or nah
بصح وعلاه اسمك أمينة مشي شباب
Babees… I’ll see myself out.
👏👏👏
Bay bees from "bumble bay". :D
Punnage intensifies.
🤣
And yet wasps thrive.
It's always the bad ones that thrive
😪
Very awesome video I love videos about bees especially bumbles they are my favourite so adorable. :)
Thank you so much for your comment! I'm working on more bee videos as we speak! 🐝🎥
@@SciencewithMrHarris very groovy! I will look forward to them. :D
Me too I made this poem
he chonky but he still protecc the queen
he chonky but he still attacc meanies
but most of all he succ the flowers nectar like a good book, bee boi employee of the month
Or I guess it’s more of a meme than a poem hehe but ye
@@limitbreak2966 I love this poem so much!
أمينة نتي بوبويتي ياك حبيت نجي نعيش معاك
أمينة قالولي بلي شابة صح
Yay sooo cool
A bumblebee is a bee that bumbles
Stripes
👍
بصح رشيد خيذر يخاف
Eastern honeybee are bad for the environment in the American
Interesting you say that! I've heard that the Eastern Honey Bee (sometimes called the Asian Honey Bee) is considered an invasive species in Australia because it competes for pollen and nectar resources with native pollinators. Thanks for sharing, I learned something new!
I love the bees.
Bee are helpful
Emmy Dam
Sting
BEE
Link doesn’t work on iPhone for some reason
Thanks for letting me know! This worked on my iPhone hopefully it works for you too! pin.it/36vAogZ
Bee
لم انم البارحة
First thing is stinger
ouch! 🐝
😍😍😍 love them so much 😍😍
me too! 💛🐝
I love animals but I'm here just to face my melissophobia. Calling them "cute" is kinda triggering but well, here we are trying to make this work. :(
Oh no! Hopefully the video helped!
Poor bumble I haven’t seen one in years
:(
This is really good thank you!
Thank you so much glad you like it! 🐝
So cool
Thank you!
Thank u😊
Welcome!
I thought they were a type of flies😅
WHY ARE THEY CALLED "BUMBLE" BEE?
It good thing my family has a garden in front yard that grows fruits and vegetable’s we also have bumblebees
Love that! Fruit and veggies like tomatoes, sunflowers and cucumbers are great for bumblebees 🐝
I have a bumblebee nest in my cellar right now..just left them alone they haven't bothered anything.
Good on ya! Just be careful of those stingers!! If you do get tired of the little guys in your cellar there are ways to remove the nest in a humane way, so that could be an option too! Thanks for the comment
How do I keep bees away from me while I’m planting. I feel they circle me and get really close ahhhhhh
bees tend to be most active during the warmest part of the day, early afternoon. you could try planting outside these times and that might help. let me know if you try that and how it goes!
But if we are talking about a "bumblebee" that makes nests into wood, isn't that a caroenter bee?
Yep!
Thanks, you just destroyed my whole childhood
??? How!
Then what's a Carpenter Bee? Is this not a Bumblebee? Im 😐
Check out my video on carpenter bees! ua-cam.com/video/CkyJpDZ43Uc/v-deo.html&ab_channel=SciencewithMr.Harris
Plant flowers!! 🐝 🐝
Great one!
great video!
Thanks!
About 5:14 nukeclear waste is stored under ground not at golf courses being poored i bees dont get me wrong i loved this video but that one thing didnt make sense it should have been they poor it into a river and that is what people think that happens but its just stored under ground so u should have had a bee drinking water from a nukeclear power plant so sorry but that was a bit off but other wise i loved i video keep it up!
Opps that was pesticide still u mested up that was nukeclear waste.
Yes you're right! I took a big of an artistic license, but I should have used the skull and crossbones or something like that ☠ Thanks for the comment and for watching!
A stinging insect that flies...
Love it! Me too 🐝
Great animation bro😊
Thanks 😁
I love bees
me too!
They are just so cute
So cute! 🐝