Bees can remember human faces — and 7 other surprising facts about these important insects

Bees are highly-efficient pollinators and are essential to plant diversity. When bees are employed to pollinate crops such as avocados, blueberries and cucumbers, fruit yields and weight increase dramatically compared to crops grown in the absence of bees or other pollinators.

When there’s a lack of young worker bees, older bees can revert to their more energetic, younger selves to take on the task. In fact, these bees end up living longer to pick up the slack.

Criminologists developed a statistical technique called geographic profiling (GP). Based on the locations of the crimes, police can make educated guesses about where a suspect might live or visit regularly.

Bees avoid detection by predators and parasites by creating a distraction zone — they leave flowers closest to their nest entrance untouched and feed further away from the hive.

They found that bees’ foraging patterns were as reliable and predictable as humans.

There are three types of honeybees: queens, workers and drones. There’s only one queen, and she’s typically the largest and longest-living individual within a hive. Worker bees are all female and the only bees with stingers. And while workers are genetically identical to the queen, only the crown can lay eggs.

Bees may have brains the size of poppy seeds, but they’re able to pick out individual features on human faces and recognize them during repeat interactions.

In one study, scientists paired images of human faces with sugar-laced water and found that bees recognized and remembered faces associated with the sweet reward — even when the reward was absent.

Fortunately, you can take action to help bees where you live. With just a smartphone and a willingness to learn, you can contribute to various citizen science projects.

Your own backyard is another place to start:

1. Plant more wildflowers.
2. Don’t use pesticides that harm bees and apply them before flowering begins.
3. If you live in the city, set up or join a community rooftop garden.