Even if most of the time you try to avoid bees—and, perhaps, even pictures of bees—you may want to make an exception today: it"s National Honey Bee Day. Back in 2009, then-Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack officially recognized this event to help raise awareness about the critical role bees play in the world"s ecosystem and give a nod to the beekeeping industry. Around the world, there are over 20,000 species of bees, which include solitary bees, bumblebees, and honey bees. Of these, only honey bees make honey, but all these industrious insects benefit humans by pollinating roughly a third of the crops we eat. Honey bees do most of the heavy lifting. In the US alone, each year domesticated honey bees pollinate about $20 billion worth of crops such as almonds, watermelons, blueberries, and more.
The buzz about bees
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Defying gravity on a swing ride
-
Visiting a Maratha fortress
-
Upstate autumn
-
The long and wiggling path
-
A red fox on the Swiss side of the Jura Mountain range
-
Today is World Refugee Day
-
Provence blooms with lavender at Sénanque Abbey
-
The old guard at Old San Juan
-
Night of the ‘Cold Moon’
-
The Millennium at 20
-
Hiking the High Trestle Trail
-
All eyes on moths
-
Storks ready for takeoff
-
Meet our fuzzy Earth Day mascot
-
Here s looking at you
-
Sounds of Bach come to Bath
-
Let’s have a ball
-
A new tradition in London
-
A predator at risk
-
Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve in Layton, Utah