Tic Tac Toe Trivia

Draw out a tick-tac-toe board for each player. A moderator reads a question to player 1. If the player answers correctly they put an X or O on the board. If they didn’t answer correctly, they don’t put anything on the board. The next question goes player 2. If they answer correctly, they get to put in an O or X. If they don’t answer correctly, they don’t put anything on the board. Go back and forth between players until one gets 3 X’s or 3 O’s in a line.

(European ) 1. What’s the name of the baskets in which were kept in medieval ? (Skeps)

2. What are male bees called? (Drones - Males, called drones, emerge from unfertilized eggs, and females emerge from fertilized ones and become the workers. So, if the queen adds sperm to an egg, it will produce a female; if she withholds sperm, the egg will produce a male.)

3. What is the distance of bee space? (3/8” - Traditional hive parts are made from wood. The design and dimension of hive parts are based on the concept of bee space. Bee space was first recognized and promoted by the Philadelphia minister Lorenzo Langstroth in 1851, when he introduced what is commonly known as the . He discovered that bees build excess comb in a space larger than 3/8 inch. Bees will fill any space less than 1/4 inch with . Therefore, a space between 3/8 inch and 1/4 inch is in a range of acceptable bee space, with 5/16 inch an average that is most acceptable by . A Langstroth hive would have a 5/16- or 3/8-inch space separating each frame and the frames from all other hive parts. The distance had been observed before, but Langstroth took advantage of it. - John Skinner, University of Tennessee)

4. What are the three occupants (types) of bees, and their gender, in a hive? Queen – female, – male, Worker – female.

5. When collecting and pollen, where do worker bees store the pollen they collect? Pollen sacs on their legs.

6. How long do worker bees live? (Summer – 6 to 7 weeks, Winter – 4 to 6 months. Workers bees typically have a life span of six weeks. However, winter bees have a different biology and can live up to six months. If they couldn’t survive longer, they would all die, because the doesn’t lay eggs in the winter. A study found that the pheromone — the smell given off by a body that animals and even [we] can sense unconsciously — of brood, or baby bees, will encourage worker bees to transition into nurse bees. That will then begin the process of a going through different jobs in the hive during its six-week lifespan. However, the lack of the baby bee smell in the fall and winter, when the queen doesn’t lay eggs, means that the worker bees don’t transition into “job mode,” and therefore have a different biology. That allows them to live longer and survive the winter. These winter bees are called diutinus bees. In the spring, when the queen begins to lay eggs, the diutinus bees can then transform back into “job mode” and become nurse bees or foragers.)

7. Are there more males or more females in a hive? Females

8. How many legs does a bee have? Six

9. How long can you keep honey, if properly stored? Indefinitely. While excavating Egypt’s famous pyramids, archaeologists have found pots of honey in an ancient tomb. The honey, dating back approximately 3,000 years, is the world’s oldest sample – and still perfectly edible. In a study released November 2015, scientists discovered that humans have been using bee products, like honey and wax, for at least 9,000 years.

10. How long does a queen live? 2-4 years, but could live up to 6 years. 11. True or False, the worker bee in a hive dies if it uses its stinger. True

12. Are honey bees carnivores, herbivores or omnivores? Herbivores. They get their protein from pollen.

13. True or False, honey bees are the only pollinator. False. Native bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, , bats and birds, etc. are all pollinators. Even wind and water pollinate plants. Roughly, 85% of all flowering plants on the planet need help with . However, all pollinators, while needed, are not equally effective. In 2015, researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of St Andrews found that bumble bees, honey bees and solitary bees were the top pollinators.

14. In a hive of 50,000 bees, roughly how many drones, workers and queens are there? 1 queen, few hundred drones, the rest are workers

15. What’s the scientific name for the ? The western honey bee, Apis mellifera Linnaeus, naturally occurs in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This species has been subdivided into at least 20 recognized subspecies, none of which are native to the Americas. However, subspecies of the western honey bee have been spread extensively beyond their natural range due to economic benefits related to pollination and honey production.