A western honey bee with orange pollen on its legs feeding on a yellow flower. — Photo: Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Western Honey Bee

Apis mellifera

The familiar honey-making bee, which lives in large, organized hives with a queen, drones and workers.

Checking teacher reviews…

Teacher? Sign in to review this page →Report a mistake

About the Western Honey Bee

Western honey bees live in hives that can hold up to 20,000 bees in summer. Each bee belongs to one of three groups, called castes: the queen, the drones and the workers. Honey bees collect nectar from flowers, then refine and concentrate it into honey. They see the world through compound eyes.^[1]

Quick facts

Scientific name: Apis mellifera^[1]
Diet: Flower nectar and honey.^[1]
Habitat: Hives.^[1]
Where it lives: Native to Europe, Asia and Africa; introduced throughout the Americas.^[1]
Group life: Hives of up to 20,000 in summer, with a queen, drones and workers.^[1]
Conservation status: Common; not endangered. Not assessed by the IUCN.^[1]

Fun facts

Honey is made from flower nectar.^[1]
Honey bees arrived in North America in the early 1600s.^[1]
A honey bee hive has three kinds of bees: a queen, drones and workers.^[1]

Vocabulary

hive: The home of a colony of bees.
caste: A group within an insect colony with its own job, such as workers.
nectar: A sweet liquid made by flowers.
compound eye: An eye made of many tiny lenses.
pollinator: An animal that carries pollen from flower to flower.

See it in person

San Francisco Zoo & GardensSan Francisco, California · InvertebratesSee this animal on the zoo's website ↗

These zoos had this animal when we gathered our information, but animals sometimes move. Check the zoo's website or contact the zoo before you visit.

Sources

[1] San Francisco Zoo & Gardens. “Honey Bees.” https://www.sfzoo.org/honey-bees/ (accessed 2026-10-02)

Facts last checked 2026-10-02.

More Insects

Black Beauty Walking StickPeruphasma schulteiA critically endangered black stick insect with yellow eyes and red wings, found in the wild in one tiny patch of Peru.Blue Death-Feigning BeetleCryptoglossa verrucosaA pale blue desert beetle from the southwestern U.S. that flops over and plays dead when startled.Dubia RoachBlaptica dubiaA South American forest cockroach that eats fruit and is widely raised as food for zoo and pet reptiles.Garden Fruit ChaferPachnoda sinuataA brown-and-yellow African scarab beetle that eats fruit and flowers and whose grubs help build soil.Giant CockroachBlaberus speciesA big, glossy tropical cockroach from Central and South America that grows three inches long and helps break down dead plants.Giant Prickly Stick InsectExtatosoma tiaratumA spiky Australian stick insect, also called the Australian walking stick, that curls its tail up like a scorpion to scare predators.Jungle NymphHeteropteryx dilatataA big, thorny, leaf-green stick insect of tropical rainforests whose females snap their spiny back legs together in defense.Madagascar Hissing CockroachGromphadorhina portentosaA large, wingless cockroach from Madagascar that hisses by pushing air out of its breathing holes.New Guinea Walking StickEurycantha calcarataA big, bulky, spiny stick insect from New Guinea that looks like a piece of bark and hides in groups by day.Orchid MantisHymenopus coronatusA pink-and-white Southeast Asian praying mantis that looks like an orchid flower and ambushes the insects that visit it.Pinacate BeetleEleodes speciesA black desert darkling beetle of the western U.S., also called the stink beetle, that does a headstand and sprays a bad smell.Red Harvester AntPogonomyrmex barbatusA seed-collecting desert ant of the southwestern U.S. with a painful sting, often mistaken for fire ants.Velvet AntFamily MutillidaeNot an ant at all: a fuzzy, brightly colored wasp whose wingless females have a very painful sting.White-Spotted Assassin BugPlatymeris biguttataA black African assassin bug with two big white spots that stabs insect prey with its beak and injects digestive juices.