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Animal Themes
Insects
Invertebrates

Bees

Bees
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.66

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    caste, cleptoparasitic, drones, Leafcutter, opportunists, parasitic, mating, lays, society, worldwide, responsibility, social, based, species, pollen, offspring

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Las Abejas

Bees   
1     Bees are very busy and hard working insects - when we visit a garden, we always see them flying from one flower to another to collect nectar and pollen. They seem to have endless energy, as they never pause to take a break! There are about 20,000 species of bees worldwide. They can be found almost everywhere, except in polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic) or at high altitudes. Based on their behaviors, bees can be roughly divided into three groups - solitary, social, and parasitic.
 
2     Solitary bees make up the largest group - of all the bee species, over 90% are solitary bees. Leafcutter bees, digger bees, and carpenter bees are all examples of solitary bees. As the name suggests, solitary bees are loners. After mating, a female solitary bee constructs her own nest. Her nest has several cells (chambers or rooms) in which she stocks up pollen and nectar. When she has accumulated enough food for her offspring, she then lays one egg in each chamber, seals all the cells, and flies away.

Paragraphs 3 to 4:
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