Dick Cromwell. age 8. of Spokane. WA.

Do bees have bones?

Without your bones. you would flop in a heap on the floor. You couldn't walk or move even a finger. Our boney inside skeleton is our stiffening. The bones are jointed to move this way and that. We move their when we order our muscles to pull at them. We are so used to them that it is hard for us to imagine how any creature could possibly manage without bones.

But it can be done. In fact. most of the creatures in the world have no inside bones to keep them stiff Nature has a number of ways to make bodies without inside bones. For instance. the soft parts of the body can be wrapped in a boney outside shell. This is the body plan of clams and oysters. Or the soft body parts may be encased in tough outside skin.

Bees and all insects are built on this second plan. Their soft insides are encased in tough. pliable coats.. These boneless plans. however. are only good for making very small bodies. If you notice. the bees the wasps and all other insects are among the world's smallish animals. Even a lobster, who has a shell instead of inside bones. is not a large .animal.

The bee’s body is built in three sections. There is a head, a thorax and an abdomen. The head and thorax have stiffer coatings than does the abdomen. The head needs protection and the thorax must be sturdy enough to support the beets busy wings. The abdomen covering is softer. more pliable and covered with cheerfully striped fur. But it is tough enough to keep her small insides in place.

Walking without inside bones is quite a problem. But Nature has a plan for solving even that. The pretty bee has six legs on which to stand and walk. She can even use them as hands and arms. For they are fitted with all kinds of tiny tools. She can stuff pollen into her marketing basket. She can comb. clean and preen herself. She can scrape wax and tam down bee food.

All this is done with joints ‑ outside joints. The hard casing on the legs is ringed with softer skin. At these points the little bee can bend her legs much as you can bend knees and elbows. Watch a bee or any insect standing. The legs are bent into sections at certain angles.

Certain insects even have jointed abdomens. You can see a row of hard bands that seem to overlap each other. Actually. they are divided with soft bands of tough skin. This plan gives the insect a more movable abdomen. The plan is almost as remarkable as the one for Jointed legs. But all insects do not have abdomens in these sections. Bees and all other insects belong to the huge tribe called Anthropoda ‑ which means the Jointed‑legged ones.