Bumblebee: The fuzzy expert at 'buzz pollination'

The bumblebee is the big, cuddly member of the bee family: wrapped in a thick coat of fuzz, it looks chubby and very endearing. For all its plump look, it is the earliest visitor to the flower patch, and the "pollination worker" greenhouse farmers are happiest to invite in. Let's meet this "buzz" expert.

Its body

The bumblebee's fur is thick and warm, giving it remarkable cold-hardiness. Before taking off it shivers to warm its flight muscles to about 40 degrees, so even on a chilly morning it can be the first to reach the flowers. Its round, plump body sits on relatively short wings, giving it a determined, steady "buzz" in flight.

It also has a special skill — buzz pollination: it grips a flower and vibrates fast to shake pollen out of the tubes. Tomato, strawberry and similar plants are especially suited to this method, which is why greenhouse growers bring bumblebees in to do the "work".

Its life and its family

Unlike the honeybee's huge, year-round kingdom, a bumblebee colony lasts only a single season: in spring a queen emerges from the soil to found a new nest; in summer the workers gather food and raise young; in autumn the new queens, after mating, dig into the soil to overwinter, and the old colony dies. Next spring, a fresh queen begins again.

A note for grown-ups

You could talk with a child about the power of warmth: how can a bumblebee visit flowers even when it is cold? Because it "warms up" first. Helping a child connect a body feature to a survival skill is the best way to understand how animals adapt.