🐝💤 When we think of bees, we usually picture constant activity: collecting nectar, caring for brood, pollinating flowers, and keeping their colony running. But even bees need time to rest.
Research on honey bees has shown that sleep is not random. Young worker bees often sleep inside brood comb cells in the warm center of the nest, while older workers and foragers tend to rest closer to the nest’s outer edges and in cooler areas. Sleeping locations change as bees age and take on different roles within the colony. Foragers also sleep more at night than during the day.
And honey bees are not the only ones with fascinating sleep habits.
Studies on solitary bees found that males often spend the night outside their nests. In the late afternoon, they stop their daily patrols and move to resting places, sometimes hanging from vegetation and sometimes spending the night inside flowers until the next day. Certain flower species appear to be particularly attractive as overnight shelters.
We know that bees work hard, but their quieter moments often go unnoticed. Learning where and how different bees sleep offers a small glimpse into a side of their lives that many of us rarely get to see. 🐝💤
Picture: Shutterstock / Nicola Simoncini
Sources:
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Klein, B. A., Stiegler, M., Klein, A., & Tautz, J. (2014). Mapping Sleeping Bees within Their Nest: Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Worker Honey Bee Sleep. PLOS ONE, 9(7), e102316. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102316
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Pinheiro, M., Alves-dos-Santos, I., & Sazima, M. (2017). Flowers as sleeping places for male bees: somehow the males of bees and wasps are the original flower children. Apidologie. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11829-017-9532-6