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Strategies for Enhancement in Food Production
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Solution:
Honey bees are social insects living in colonies and exhibiting polymorphism and division of labour. A colony of honey bees consists of three kinds of individuals or castes.
(i) Workers - Sterile females. Smallest members of the colony and make up the largest number of colony individuals.
(ii) Drones - Fertile males. There are usually 100 drones in a typical colony depending upon the season of the year.
(iii) Queen - Fertile female. Queen is the only fertile female in a beehive having immensely developed ovaries. She alone lays eggs and is the mother of almost all the members of the hive.
Hence, population of an average sized colony consists of one adult queen, about 100 drones and 60,000 workers.