Bumble Bee Honey Bee
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- Smaller and slim appearance, like a wasp.
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- 24 different species of bumblebee in the UK.
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- Only one species of honeybee in Europe.
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- Different species have different lengths of tongue. This means they feed from different shaped flowers.
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- All honeybees have short tongues so they prefer open flowers.
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- Bumblebees live in nests with 50-400 bees.
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- Honeybees live in hives of up to 50,000 – 60,000 bees.
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- Only the queen hibernates, in a hole in the ground.
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- The queen and many of her daughters live in the hive all year
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- The queen lives for one year, but the other bumblebees only live for a few months.
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- The queen can live for three - four years.
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- They live in the wild, e.g. in gardens and the countryside.
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- Most honeybees are looked after by beekeepers, but there are some wild colonies.
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- Bumblebees only make small amounts of a honey-like substance to eat themselves.
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- Honeybees make lots of honey, which beekeepers can harvest to eat or sell.
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- Bumblebee populations are declining due to a shortage of flowers to feed from and places to nest in the countryside.
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- Honeybees are mainly declining due to diseases and mites, such as the Varroa mite.
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- They can sting more than once but only sting if aggravated.
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- Honeybees die after they have stung as their stinger is barbed and sticks in the skin.
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- Don't dance but may communicate by passing pollen between worker bees.
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- Use a 'waggle dance' to communicate - passing on information about flower locations
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Find out more about bees;
http://bumblebeeconservation.org/about-bees/
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=648
http://adventuresinbeeland.com/
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