Honey bees have three pairs of legs and each pair is different. They are using their last two legs for pollen collecting. We are all familiar with the “bags” that honey bees and bumblebees are carrying. Were you ever curious to find out how are the bees making the pollen pellets?
How do bees pack the collected pollen?
We have explained the way in which bees are collecting pollen, but it is also interesting to know how are they packing it. There is one tool which is used and it is called the pollen press. It consists of 2 flat plates which are connected to each other. When bees bend the joint, these plates pull apart. So, in that moment bees are stuffing it with the pollen that they have collected and wiped off of their body into one place. The bee cleans its body until the pollen press is full of pollen. After this, when the bee straightens her leg the plates close and make the pollen move up into the pollen basket. In fact, this basket is filled backward, from the bottom.
What have researchers discovered?
Bees are not collecting pollen only with the purpose of pollinating plants. They are bringing pollen back to the hive in order to provide food. A worker bee can carry nectar or pollen up to 80% of its own body weight. These pollen pellets that include nectar and pollen are hanging off of their bodies like overstuffed saddlebags.
In order to investigate this, researchers caught around twenty bees which were returning to their hive. They wanted to find out how safely are the bees carrying their collection of nectar and pollen. In order to do this, the researchers used high-resolution imaging and a similar technique to an x-ray. The team of researchers introduced their report at the 70th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics in Denver. They reported that as the animals flew, long hairs of their legs helped hold the pollen pellets in place.