Bees are extremely hard-working, we know that. But after working day and night, even bees need to rest for a while and take a nap. Thanks to wildlife photographer Joe Neely, now we have a unique chance to see how bees sleep, and it’s adorable!
Neely discovered bees sleeping by accident when he went out to find poppy flowers with his fiancé Niccole one day. The couple was taking pictures and they heard bees buzzing about when they noticed that some of the bees were actually in the orange flower called Globe Mallow – and they weren’t moving.
“Well, I never knew that bees slept in flowers but as it turns out these bees (Diadasia diminuta) sleep in the orange flowers called Globe Mallows”, said Neely.
He captured this adorable moment of bees getting their beauty sleep and apparently, they’re sleeping in couples. But how can we even now that the bees are sleeping? Brandon Hopkins, a bee researcher at Washington State University, explained.
“They don’t have eyelids, so you can’t just look for bees with their eyes closed. By carefully watching bees, scientists have found that honey bees stop moving their antenna and in some cases fall over sideways.”
Sleeping patterns of bees depend on the species and where they live, but they usually take shifts to get a few hours of sleep.
