Bees and Pollination
Bees and Pollination |
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Frequently Asked Questions |
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Back to ContentsDo bees sleep?Yes, indeed, bees "sleep". Though there is always a lot of activity in a bee hive, mostly in the brood area where the queen is laying eggs, it is possible to observe worker bees around the edges of the comb and on the side walls that are resting and quiet. Research done as recently as 1988 showed that bees at rest exhibit some of the same characteristics as humans in a sleep period: they don't move around, they don't react to stimuli very readily, their muscles relax, and their body temperature drops. So, while the buzzing in the hive is probably not snoring, research concludes that bees do sleep. (Reference: Southwick, E. E. "Bee sleep". American Bee Journal 131:165-166, 1991) |
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This web site is maintained by The Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in cooperation with AgNIC. Comments and suggestions may be directed to Connie Britton, Librarian, OARDC at britton.4@osu.edu.
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