By David J. Webb
Several years ago, the perfectly preserved body of a bee, encased in amber, was put on display in the Museum of Natural History in New York City. It was carbon-dated to be at least 80 million years old, but may be up to 135 million years old. The little bee, was probably caught in a glob of tree sap while out on a mission of gathering the sticky fluid for the production of propolis. Propolis is the antiseptic or antibiotic that bees produce to keep their colonies protected from invasion by disease. It is believed that they keep their settlements more sterile and free from bacteria than a modern hospital.
The oldest continuously living species on earth has not survived all extinct earth dwellers' by accident The honey-bee is the embodiment of efficiency and ingenuity. Efficiency, in having the most effective social and production-oriented society ever known, and ingenuity in having the most masterful research and development program ever conceived.
Woolly mammoths died out, dinosaurs disappeared, but the bee has outlasted them all, and continues to flourish today even stronger than ever. As mentioned, this is no accident.
For over 80 million years the bee has been attacked by all variations of threats from viruses, fungi, bacteria and a host of little and large pests. Nothing has been able to interrupt the bee's survival plans. It just keeps on keeping on, providing us with the fruits of their labors, research and development.
Imagine, for a moment, one little section of the hive, designated for R & D. You open up a tiny little door, peek in to see thousands of busy bees, dressed in tiny white lab coats, going about the business of developing new anti-biotic like prescriptions that quickly act to neutralize the newest form of drug-resistant bacteria to attack their fellow bees. The formulae for these unique remedies are immediately communicated to the worker bees and synthesized into their food and germ-fighting products, to eliminate all threats to their existence.
Man and other animals, have harvested the products of the beehive, for their pleasure and very survival. The fact that bees have existed continuously for over 80 million years, tells us that whatever they are doing……works! There's a lesson in this experience, one that should be taken seriously.
The products of the bee hive, BEE POLLEN, HONEY, PROPOLIS and ROYAL JELLY, may just be the most potent combination of nutrients ever developed since time began. For the sake of brevity, I won't get into descriptions and studies of these products, but you may want to do this in order to see what you may be missing.
The most amazing little creature on this great earth of ours is the bee.