Nature’s most industrious pollinator, the bumble bee — cousin to the honey bee — facilitates the fruiting of a number of vegetables and tree fruits. Intensive pollination of the kind provided by bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) results in greater yields of everything from tomatoes and peppers to strawberries and cherries. In this sense, the bee helps feed the world.

Bumblebees carry large pollen baskets on their hind legs. Pollen will also cling to their hairy abdomens to be deposited during their successive visits from blossom to blossom before returning to their hives. Hives are a place of communal activity where the gathered pollen is converted to food, offspring are fed, and the hive itself enlarged as food sources increase during the flowering season. It’s well know that bumblebees, like other social fauna, will defend their home from intruders. They also keep it cool during hot weather by aligning themselves in staggered lines and using their wings to fan the hive. Bumblebees are among nature’s most fascinating — and necessary — creatures.

Collecting Pollen	Bombus impatiens	Inside the Hive

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