At this point, the narrative becomes entirely dependent on what types of bees are involved, the health of the hive, whether the foreign bee is bringing nectar and pollen into the hive, and whether they are heavily doused in pheromones. So, on a fundamental level, bees can certainly survive outside of a hive setting, but for honeybees (colonizing bees), living in service to a queen is what they do! If a honeybee loses its hive or is separated by a large geographical distance with no chance of returning, there is a good chance that they will attempt to enter another hive. There are between 20,000 and 30,000 species of solitary bees around the globe, and they play a critical role in pollination, just as colonized bees do, but they don’t get the same level of recognition (perhaps due to the lack of honey!). The vast majority of bees around the world are known as “solitary bees”, and live their lives alone or in very small communal settings with other solitary bees of the same species. Well, to begin with, only about 10% of bees live in the stereotypical colonies and hives. If it can’t find its way home, or if there isn’t a home left to find, what is a bee to do? However, if a bee is taken away from its normal environment (e.g., a bee gets trapped in your car and exits the vehicle 120 miles away), or if a bee’s hive is completely destroyed (e.g., storm, natural disaster, human activity), a bee will have to figure out some way to survive. Together, these are typically adequate to prevent a bee from getting lost when they are on “ their turf“. This is combined with surprisingly accurate mental maps of their immediate surroundings, which they form after their first few flights out of the colony. When foraging for food, a bee will find a food source, then return to the hive in a straight line, where it will engage in a short, instructive dance to tell the other bees where the food can be found.Įxperts are not certain how bees are able to communicate in terms of the sun when the movement and placement of the sun changes throughout the year, but they believe it has something to do with the oscelli on top of their heads, which are somehow able to calculate vectors and locational information, similar to a GPS map on our phones. They only have a two-month lifespan, on average, the first two weeks of which are spent working inside the hive, so once they leave the hive, they don’t want to waste time getting lost.įortunately, bees have a remarkable means of navigating through the world without getting lost, which consists of using the sun as a fixed point and maintaining an angle in relation to the sun. (Photo Credit : Pixabay)įor the female worker bees, however, which are likely the types of bees you’ve encountered flying and buzzing around your garden, surviving outside the colony is essential. Female worker bees have a very short lifespan.
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