The
honey-bee is one of our best known insects, whose relationship with humans can
be traced back to the dawn of humankind when early people ‘stole’ honey from
wild bee nests. Cave paintings in Spain from as long ago as 6000 bc show our
ancestors taking honey from bees, which surely indicates that beekeeping is at
least as old as the other two oldest professions!
By the time
humans did come on the scene, the honey-bee had already been around for about
40–50 million years or more – it had evolved from its hunting-wasp ancestors and
had become a strict vegetarian. Bees and flowering plants then evolved with
each other in a truly remarkable relationship that changed and coloured the
world we live in.
This
evolutionary symbiotic relationship is probably the most important reason why our
world looks like it does today, and still the vital work of bees goes on. It is
a sobering thought that, if all humans were to be wiped out, the world would
probably revert to the rich, ecologically balanced state that existed some
10,000 years ago. On the other hand, if bees and other pollinating insects were
to be wiped out, humans and other animals would not last for long.
Honey-bees are the
most economically important insects on earth, and certainly the most studied.
Honey production is essentially a side issue. The honey-bee’s role – and thus
the beekeeper’s role – in this becomes more important and valuable by the day
as our farming and other practices dramatically eradicate the habitats of other
types of bees and pollinating insects.
If you look
at fields full of flowering crops or wild flowers in the countryside, or at garden
and park flowers in the cities, you are not only looking at beauty but also at
gold – thousands of tons of valuable honey. Liquid gold sitting there, all for
you! If you don’t go and get it, the flowers will die at the end of the season
and all those tons of honey will go to waste. All that money will simply have
dried up in front of your eyes. If, on the other hand, you have bees, they will
go and get it for you for free, and you can then either eat it or sell it or
both.
Bees are
probably the only livestock that use other people’s land without permission –
and those landowners welcome them. It is a win-win situation for the bee and
for everyone else. Your bees are happy carrying out their work; you can enjoy
your hobby or business, and if you want to you can make a profit; the farmers
get their crops pollinated and so they make a profit; the shops obtain food to
sell and they make a profit;
