There are over 16,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some species--including honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees--live socially in colonies while some species--including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees--are solitary.

Honey bees will tap about two million flowers and fly 50,000 miles (80,000 km) to make one pound (454 g) of honey.

Honey bee workers perform a series of movements, often referred to as the "waggle dance", to teach other workers the location of food sources, communicating both distance and direction. If the resources are very close to the hive, they may exhibit a less specific dance commonly known as the "round dance". Honey bees also perform tremble dances, which recruit receiver bees to collect nectar from returning foragers.

Bees have five eyes--two large compound eyes which comprise much of the surface of the head and three small simple eyes (ocelli) which provide information on light intensity.

Bumblebees have darker wings, more hair on their bodies, and usually make their nest underground, whereas honey bees have fewer body hairs, more translucent wings, and prefer to nest above ground in sheltered locations.

Humans see light in wavelengths from approximately 390 to 750 nanometers (nm), allowing for color combinations of red, blue and green, while bees see from approximately 300 to 650 nm, allowing for color combinations of blue, green and ultraviolet light, which is why bees can't see the color red. They don't have a photoreceptor for it. They can, however, see reddish wavelengths, such as yellow and orange.

The sole purpose of drones (males) is to mate with a queen, and her sole purpose is to produce eggs. Drones take 24 days to develop, and may be produced from summer through to autumn, numbering as many as 500 per hive. They are expelled from the hive during the winter months when the hive's primary focus is warmth and food conservation. Drones have large eyes used to locate queens during mating flights. They do not defend the hive or kill intruders, and do not have a stinger.

When sealed in an airtight container, honey is one of the few foods known to have an eternal shelf life. There are even reports of edible honey being found in several-thousand-year-old Egyptian tombs. Honey's longevity can be explained by its chemical makeup: The substance is naturally acidic and low in moisture, making it an inhospitable environment for bacteria.

If the queen bee dies, workers will create a new queen by selecting a young larva and feeding it a special secretion called royal jelly. Large amounts of royal jelly will trigger the development of queen morphology, including the fully developed ovaries needed to lay eggs.

Carpenter bees make nests by tunneling into wood, bamboo, and similar hard plant material. They vibrate their bodies as they rasp their mandibles against hard wood, each nest having a single entrance which may have many adjacent tunnels. Although the tunnel openings only look one or two inches deep, they can be up to 10 feet long.