10 quick questions: how much do you know about bees?

Bees. Illustration: Guardian Design

Oh look, it’s spring! The days are getting longer, the evenings smell like jasmine, the hayfever-people are sneezing and rubbing their eyes. Pollen is everywhere, which means only one thing:

happy spring everybody pic.twitter.com/LitlPomOyP

— steph harmon (@stephharmon) September 3, 2021

Outside, the sun is shining. So why not draw the blinds, fire up the TV and stream Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie? But wait: do you know enough about bees to understand this movie? Do you know literally anything about bees? Let’s find out, shall we?

1. 

   The western honey bee may be the best known and most widely distributed in the world, but roughly how many species of bees are there in total?

   1. 620

   2. 200

   3. 2000

   4. 20,000

2. What CAN’T bees do?

   1. Detect hidden landmines

   2. Sting repeatedly

   3. Defy the laws of aerodynamics

   4. Carry up to 122 times their body weight

3. Which monarch chose the bee as their personal emblem?

   1. Cleopatra

   2. Napoleon Bonaparte

   3. Henry VIII

   4. Catherine the Great

4. 

   Honey bees have been observed sticking pellets of animal poo to the outside of their hives to deter giant hornets from entering and attacking. How do they fend off intruders who get inside?

   1. Hissing at them

   2. Roasting them alive

   3. Stinging them

   4. All of the above

5. Which of the following is incorrect?

   1. Manuka honey can kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria

   2. A single bee produces one litre of honey in its lifetime

   3. Honey has an unlimited shelf life

   4. Honey can be used as a treatment for coughs and colds

6. In Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee movie, Larry King played:

   1. Himself

   2. A fictionalised bee version of himself

   3. The singer Sting

   4. A wasp

7. Which of the following celebrities is not a beekeeper?

   1. Morgan Freeman

   2. Leonardo Di Caprio

   3. Britney Spears

   4. Beyoncé

8. 

   When the expression “the bee’s knees” first appeared in the 18th century, what did it mean?

   1. Something or someone that is the very best

   2. Something or someone very small or insignificant

   3. Something that could make you sneeze

   4. Something or someone very flexible

9. What happens to bees on cocaine?

   1. They forget how to dance

   2. They talk about opening a restaurant

   3. They turn into liars

   4. They go to sleep

10. In 2021, 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde made history when she became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. What feat does she hold Guinness World Records for?

    1. Tongue-twisters

    2. Ball dribbling

    3. Largest collection of rubber ducks

    4. Holding her breath

Solutions

1:D - Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica, and the vast majority of bee species are solitary. , 2:C - Worker honey bees have barbed stingers that tear from their abdomen after they sting mammals, but many species have barbless stingers and can sting repeatedly. The opening lines of Bee Movie – that bees shouldn’t be able to fly – are in fact a myth: their wings generate tiny cyclones that lift them up. , 3:B - Napoleon chose the bee as a symbol of “immortality and resurrection” – though the lifespan of a worker bee is less than a year., 4:D - Worker bees hiss and buzz when in danger, and roast intruders alive by forming “hot defensive bee balls”., 5:B - Estimates differ, but a single worker honey bee produces less than a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. If stored well, honey can be preserved for thousands of years – all the better to treat coughs and colds., 6:B - Larry King plays “Bee Larry King”, the host of the show “Bee Larry King”. Sting plays himself. , 7:C - Spears is allergic to bee stings, which would make her an unlikely guest at Morgan Freeman’s 124-acre Mississippi ranch, which he recently converted into a bee sanctuary, according to Forbes. , 8:B - According to the Oxford University Press site Lexico, the current meaning of the phrase – something or someone that is the very best – dates from the 1920s, when people liked to use slang such as “The cat’s whiskers” or “The canary’s tusks”. According to Lexico: “The switch in meaning for the bee's knees probably emerged because it was so similar in structure and pattern to these other phrases.”, 9:C - A 2008 study found that cocaine caused bees to “dance extremely vigorously” when returning to the hive after visiting a feeder stocked with sugar solution. The study also found that the bees “behaved as if the sucrose solution was of a much higher quality than it really was.”, 10:B - Avant-garde holds Guinness World Records for dribbling multiple basketballs at once.

Scores

1. 10 and above.

   Queen Bey! Your impressive bee knowledge is sure to generate a buzz.

2. 9 and above.

   Queen Bey! Your impressive bee knowledge is sure to generate a buzz.

3. 8 and above.

   So close! That’s gotta sting.

4. 7 and above.

   So close! That’s gotta sting.

5. 6 and above.

   Oh, honey – looks like you got stuck on a few questions.

6. 5 and above.

   Oh, honey – looks like you got stuck on a few questions.

7. 4 and above.

   Oh, honey – looks like you got stuck on a few questions.

8. 3 and above.

   A bumbling result, sadly! May-bee next time you should consult the hive mind.

9. 2 and above.

   A bumbling result, sadly! May-bee next time you should consult the hive mind.

10. 0 and above.

    A bumbling result, sadly! May-bee next time you should consult the hive mind.

11. 1 and above.

    A bumbling result, sadly! May-bee next time you should consult the hive mind.