Patricia Gajeivskii age 12, of Gary, Ind., for her question:
Is it true that a bee dies after she stings?
A bee sting is very painful and we tend to be angry with the fuzzy little insect a long time after the sad event. In time, however, the stinging bump goes down and we may wonder what became of the angry little bee. Sad to say, her working days are over. For the busy little lady cannot survive very long after she has used her stinger. She stings only once and the fiery stab costs her her life.
The busy bees we see around the garden are worker bees. They are out marketing for pollen aril sweet nectar to take back to the hive. Every little bee is so intent on her work that she has not a moment to spare. She certainly has no time to get into a fight. Hence, when she stings you, she is not looking for trouble. She is trying to defend herself or the precious hive and the sting is her only weapon.
A bee's sting is in the tail end of her soft abdomen. It is formed from two little blades which lock together to form a tube. The blades end in small barbs and the roots of the blades are fixed to a bulb like gland. This gland manufactures a poison very much like formic acid.
When the bee is frightened or angry she gets ready to pierce with her stinger. She lands on your soft flesh and pushes the little blades down under the skin. The bulb at the root of the stinger squeezes its poison down the tube between the two blades. The tiny barbs at the ends of the blades hook into the flesh and hold tight. They hold so flight that the little bee has trouble pulling back her stinger.
She tugs and tugs, trying to get away. In her anguish, she may pull the stinger right out and leave it behind. In any case, her fragile little body will be torn beyond repair. After she frees herself, she flies off to die and never lasts longer than a few hours.
When the hive is attacked, hundreds of worker bees rush to defend it and, when the fray is over, all of those who have used their stings axe no more. The drones of the hive have no stings and they are useless when time comes to defend the hive. The queen does not deign to fight for the hive o preferring to leave that duty to her faithful workers.
The queen has a sting, but she uses it only to sting other queen bees. Her sting is long and curved and it is not fitted with little barbs. This means that when she uses it to pierce, she can take it back again without tugging. The queen bee can use her sting many times without hurting herself.