the honey sac, a storage tank that holds the
nectar until the bee returns to the hive. Certain
glands secrete enzymes into the sac, and these
work to break down starch into smaller chains
of sugars and sucrose into its constituent
glucose and fructose molecules.
A few remarkable figures are worth
quoting. A strong hive contains one mature
queen, a few hundred male drones, and some
20,000 female workers. For every pound of
honey taken to market, eight pounds are used
by the hive in its everyday activities. The total
flight path required for a bee to gather enough
nectar for this pound of surplus honey has
been estimated at three orbits around the
earth. The average bee forages within one
mile of the hive, makes up to 25 round trips
each day, and carries a load of around 0.002 of
an ounce, or 0.06 grams — approximately half
its weight. With its light chassis, a bee would
get about 7 million miles to a gallon (3
million km per liter) of honey. In a lifetime of
barry
(Barry)
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