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Did you know that bees are one of the reasons that flowers are able to bloom and continue in their life cycle every year? It’s true! Bees travel from one flower to the next, collecting pollen and flower nectar to feed to their kin.

Meanwhile, as they travel from flower to flower, some of the pollen rubs off of their legs and bodies and lands on the part of the flower responsible for reproduction (called the pistil) of other plants in the same species. In fact, some plants are utterly dependent on bees for this cross-pollination process. Mutualism is the term used to describe when one organism helps another even though they are of different species or orders. Kind of cool, huh?

The bee’s body is formed of branched or feathery body hairs that aid in the collection of pollen. Some bees take the nectar back to their hive to create honey from the flower nectar that they have collected. For centuries, humans have been taking advantage of this delicious habit. In fact, ancient beehives have been discovered all across the globe in assorted shapes and sizes.

Not only do bees help flowers propagate and make delicious honey for their families– which humans (and certain bears) love to consume, but they live in highly evolved social structures. Scientists are able to study different families of bees in order to better understand the process of evolution. For example, solitary bees are more primitive like wasps, for they have a nest in which a female bee makes a burrow. She then deposits pollen that is moistened with nectar into each larva’s little cell and seals it. She moves on and constructs more cells for the other eggs that she will lay.

Other bees live in societies and are called social bees. In these nests, several female bees use the same nest to further their families. There also exist semi-social bees who live in small colonies which are built by a queen bee who lays the eggs and are built by her daughters. These colonies are seasonal, so they die out in the autumn, though the queen lives through the winter to carry on the genetic line. The bees that we call Bumblebees live this kind of life.

The most social bees, called eusocial bees, live in very large colonies that are ruled by two generations of bees. The mothers are called queens, and the daughters are known as workers. Male bees, called drones, help organize the colony and mate only with the queens. Check this out-the colony is so well organized that some species of bees communicate with each other in a symbolic dance language. They also speak to each other with chemical messages, by touching each other and with sound. Their jobs are specific within the colony and they all rely on each other in order to survive. These highly evolved bees modify their colony life to suit their environment. Honeybees are one of these families of bees.

Not all bees work together, however. Parasitic bees, such as the bees we call killer bees, do not pollinate flowers, or make their own nests. Rather, they overtake the nests of other bees. One type of parasitic bees invades the solitary bees’ nests and hide their eggs in the chambers before the queen lays her eggs. They then seal the chambers and the young parasitic larvae feed on the food that was collected by the host bees. The other types of parasitic bees enter the colony, kill the residing queen bee and force the workers of the colony to raise the parasitic bees’ young. Doesn’t that seem unfair? No wonder these bees are so dangerous-they have no mercy!

Don’t fear, though. Not all bees are mean and nasty. If you are eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a bee comes calling, don’t try to squash it, because it could try to defend itself by stinging you. Rather, just move slowly like a leaf in the breeze. If the bee doesn’t leave you alone, even after you’ve put away your PB&J, make sure that you wash all of the sweet jelly off of your fingers. The bees might mistake it for the sweet nectar of a flower. Remember, bees are our friends!