Corporate Employees: Honey Bees

These little dark brown- and yellow-striped insects are responsible for a multi-million dollar business. According to the University of Rhode Island’s horticulture program, between honey, beeswax and cross-pollination of other agricultural crops, honeybees produce more than $100 million dollars in profits each year in the U.S. alone. Much like any large company, there are a variety of roles that help the business inside the beehive run smoothly. The CEO is the queen bee, and her main responsibility is to reproduce more bees so the hive continuously has new workers. Field bees are responsible for leaving the hive to collect necessary supplies, like nectar, which they pass on to the worker bees at the hive. The worker bees are all female and are responsible for creating the honey. They regurgitate the nectar over and over to remove most of the water, which produces honey. Worker bees also provide heating and air-conditioning for the hive, warming it in the winter by waving their wings and cooling it by sprinkling water on the honeycomb. There are no vacations or happy hours at the end of a long day — like the rest of the animals in our countdown, their business runs around the clock with no overtime pay.

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