Western Honey Bee: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Busy Bugs · day 1 of 7

Five facts

1. Honey bees share where food is by dancing. The waggle dance tells nestmates how far away the food is and which way to fly.
2. On hot days, a bee brings up a drop of warm fluid from its honey stomach. This lowers the temperature of its head by 10 °C.
3. Many people think a bee always dies soon after it stings. Not so: it usually dies only after stinging a human or another mammal.
4. When a colony swarms, the old queen and about two-thirds of the workers leave to find a new home.
5. On each mating flight, a young queen mates with 1 to 17 drones. She stores their sperm and uses it to fertilise her eggs.

The quiz

1. How do honey bees tell each other where food is?

• By dancing (correct)
• By buzzing loudly
• By leaving scent trails on the ground
• By carrying flowers back

The waggle dance tells other bees how far away the food is and in which direction.

2. By how much does a bee's regurgitated droplet cool its head?

• 1 °C
• 10 °C (correct)
• 30 °C
• 50 °C

The droplet brings its head temperature down by 10 °C.

3. What is true about a bee's sting?

• A bee always dies at once
• A bee can only sting once a year
• A bee does not always die soon after stinging (correct)
• Only drones can sting

A bee usually dies only after stinging a human or another mammal, not every time it stings.

4. Who leaves the hive when a colony swarms?

• The new queen and all the drones
• Only the drones
• The old queen alone
• The old queen and about two-thirds of the workers (correct)

The old queen and about two-thirds of the workers leave in a swarm.

5. How many drones may a young queen mate with on one mating flight?

• Between 1 and 17 (correct)
• About a thousand
• Always exactly 50
• Between 200 and 500

On each mating flight she mates with 1 to 17 drones.

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