PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES ADORABLE COUPLE OF BEES CUDDLING IN THE MIDDLE OF A FLOWER

Ever considered the timing or mechanism of insect sleep? You may have never thought about it because they are always buzzing around. However, as nature photographer Joe Neely demonstrates, bees do go to sleep. He took this cute picture of two globe mallow bees taking naps inside a vibrant globe mallow flower. The scene is almost too perfect to be true, with the creatures, covered in pollen, snuggling together in the middle of the orange-crimson bloom.

Neely happened to stumble upon the two bees. His statement to My Modern Met reads, "It was springtime, so my wife Niccole and I (both of us are avid nature photographers) went out in search of Mexican poppy wildflowers but the fields were empty." Eventually, they stopped to take pictures when they came across a flower grove by the side of the road. While searching for the ideal flower, Niccole discovered some bees inside an orange globe mallow bloom. Even after dusk, I rushed over and watched them for a few minutes.

Neely observed his spouse as more bees made their way into the flowers. He remembers that soon after, "every flower on the plant had a motionless occupant in them." They intended to go to bed. This is a behaviour I have never seen before. Then, as dusk was falling, a lone bee was searching desperately for a flower of his own, but they were all taken. He crawled into petals alongside another bee, who moved slightly to make space for him.

As soon as Neely realised he had the ideal shot, he whipped out his macro gear and took a few shots. The orange flowers and their blue eyes created a striking contrast. We didn't find out more about them or their unusual habit of sleeping in globe-mallow blooms until we got home. While some bees spend the night in their hives, this particular species is frequently observed dozing off in the flower that bears their name. And occasionally it's with a friend, as Neely demonstrates.