BEES DO MORE THAN JUST STING

On a Netflix and chill kind of day, one of the movies I watched was 'Beekeeper'; an American action film starring Jason Statham. Jason makes a 'Kihara' look dope. Apart from online fraud in the movie, what stood out was Jason Statham, the beekeeper, who was figuratively a queen slayer and was out to kill the president. In the bee community, headed by a queen, queen slayers may rise and kill their Queen if she produces the 'wrong' male offspring. I can't be the only one who didn't know that. Another fact you might not know, May 20th was World Bees Day. It is a day dedicated to acknowledging bees and other pollinators' role in our ecosystem. In the same spirit, why don't we spice it up and immerse ourselves into the busy life of a bee, enjoy some honey and stings of fun facts? 

Honeybees are the most popular and social of all bee species. They naturally live in bee nests. Similar to how humans live in communities, bees live in colonies.  In nature, colonies live separately. The colony consists of immature-growing bees and adult bees. The adult bees are organized into three groups: the Queen Bee, Drones (male bees), and Worker Bees (Female Bees). They all have distinct roles and combine efforts for the survival and support of their colony.  

Development of Bees 

Bees undergo metamorphosis, which has four stages: egg, egg hatches into a larva, develops into a Pupa, and matures into an adult. For bees, as in other insects, such as ants, metamorphosis occurs on fertilized and unfertilized eggs laid by a female bee. The bee's sex is determined by whether the egg was fertilized or unfertilized. Can you guess which gender is fertilized? When a sperm fertilizes an egg, two chromosomes (the father and mother) combine to form a female; if the egg is not fertilized, it contains a single chromosome (from the mother) and develops into a male. Basically, drones have a grandfather but no father.  

Queen Bee

Each colony has only one Queen, a female bee. Any hatched female larva has the potential to become a Queen; however, to become a queen, the female larva must undergo customary preparation. As part of the preparations, the worker bees identify 10 to 20 female larvae to become Queen.  The identified larvae are put on a strict diet of highly nutritious milky substances called Royal Jelly, which has enough nutrition to activate the sexual development and reproductive system of the female larva. The identified and fed female larvae are each moved to a unique honeycomb called a queen cell. When the larvae are about to transform into a pupa, the worker bees cover the cells with bee wax so that they transform inside it. After 15 days, they fully develop into adults and gently chew their way out of the cell with the help of a few worker bees. Once out of the cell, they become virgin Queens. Since a colony can only have one Queen, the virgin queens will seek out the other virgins and fight for the throne. The Virgin Queen, ready to fight, will call on other virgins using a technique called pipping. Upon one pipping sound, all other virgin queens will respond, announcing their willingness to fight, including those still in the Queen's cell. The sounds make it easier to identify other virgin queens. They will fight using their sting, and unlike other female bees, Queens can sting without dying. The surviving virgin will then take the throne and, ultimately, the role of reproducing. 

After a week, the Queen will leave her nest alone and fly some distance to mate with other drones. Flying away to mate is nature's way of avoiding inbreeding within the same colony.  Being the first time the Queen leaves her nest, she first orbits her nest to familiarize herself with the environment for when she returns. As the Queen flies high above, congregations of drones from other colonies will seek a mating partner. The drones will recognize the Queen through her chemical scent called pheromone. The Queen bee engages in polyandry by mating with approximately 15 drones. She then stores a portion of each drone's sperm in her sperm pouch, called a spermathecal. For the Queen, Polyandry increases genetic diversity and the survival and fitness of her colony. After mating, the Queen returns to her nest and lays fertilized and unfertilized eggs for the rest of her life. As the eggs mature, the Queen decides when to release a sperm to fertilize the eggs; either way, she must lay eggs. Her life expectancy is about two to three years. In addition to the Queen's scent - pheromone attracting drones, the pheromone alerts the worker bees of the Queen's health condition in the nest. Moreover, it inhibits the development of ovaries in the worker bees, so they cannot lay eggs while she is reigning. The pheromone keeps the colony intact and cues the worker bees to care for her. 

Drones

Male bees are called drones that develop from unfertilized eggs and form 15 % of the bee population in a colony. They are produced when the nest is healthy and has a surplus of food and Bee workers. They have different body structures from their female counterparts, and their eyes are twice as big. The big eyes enable the drones to follow the Queen as she flies high up to mate. The single purpose of drones is to mate with the Queen. They do not work, can't produce honey nor sting. Through their lifetime, their needs are met by the worker bees. Drones sexually develop after 16 days and become ready to mate. During warm afternoons and clear skies, the drones will groom themselves, fly away from their nest to high places, and meet other drones in their congregation areas. Drones from different colonies await the virgin Queen to mate in these congregation areas. Fortunate drones will encounter a queen and pass on its genes, after which it will proudly die.  Now, where and how bees mate makes an intriguing persiflage accompanied with a glass of your favorite drink. The other drones will return to the nest to fuel up with honey and cruise back out. If unfortunate, the drones will continue being fed by the worker bees.

Worker Bees 

Worker bees are female bees that are not Queens. They develop from fertilized eggs but are sexually undeveloped. From their names, they are busy bees that perform labor in the nest. They are equipped with scent glands, wax glands, pollen baskets, and brood food glands that enable them to perform their role in the colony. They constitute the largest population of bees in a colony. The role of the worker bees includes cleaning and polishing the cells, feeding the brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae), caring for the Queen, removing debris, handling incoming nectar, building beeswax combs, guarding the entrance, air conditioning and ventilating the nest. They also scout for nectar, pollen, water, and propolis. Worker bees are primarily busy during hot/warm seasons; their lifespan is six weeks because of how much they work. During the cold/winter seasons, activity decreases for the bees, and worker bees can leave for up to 6 months. Worker bees stay in the nest this season and form clusters to keep themselves and the Queen warm. At this point, to control food consumption, the worker bees regulate the number of bees in their nest by dragging out the drones, leaving them out to starve and die. This move reserves the food in the stores for the Queen and the worker bees, whose job is to feed, warm, and protect the Queen throughout the cold season. The worker bees, being female, have stings. When protecting the nest, it can sting other insects several times. However, they can only sting mammals once, and then they die.

Formation of a Bee Colony.

The formation of a new colony can happen in three instances. Firstly:- 

1. Swarming

Swarming is a natural occurrence for honeybees as a method of developing their colony. Swarming is the migration of honeybees from one colony to form a new colony in a different location. Swarming is triggered when an existing colony outgrows its nest and becomes too congested. An overflowing population overpowers the Queen's pheromones' control, signaling the workers to swarm. Before the migration, the worker bees prepare new female larvae to become queens. Just before the virgin queens emerge, the reigning Queen Bee leaves the nest with about half of the worker bees. After a few minutes of flights, the Queen lands at a temporary location with part of the swarm. The bees in the swarm settle into a tight cluster while others continue scouting for a new home site. Once the scouting workers locate a good site, the cluster, and the Queen move to the identified area and begin building a nest immediately. A honeybee swarm has hundreds or thousands of worker bees with a single queen. The worker bees are less aggressive because they have no honey to protect, but they will sting to protect the Queen. 

2. Supersedure

This is a process of replacing (superseding) the failing Queen. A Queen is seen to be failing when  there is a reduced  production of pheromones or number of eggs layed. The worker bees begin the process by feeding a female larvae royal Jelly and creating supersedure cells when they grow into virgin Queens. In an ideal supersedure, when  the new queen mates and begins laying eggs the old Queen slowly dies.

3. Emergency

There are unnatural causes for a colony to lose its Queen. When the Queen is accidentally killed, lost, or removed by queen slayers, the worker bees select a younger worker bee to feed her royal Jelly so that she can quickly take the throne and responsibilities as their Queen.

I find the lifestyle of honeybees so intriguing and beautiful. Do you think it's fair for drones to die after mating? For worker bees to work like crazy from when they are born to when they die? for the Queen to only go outside the nest once in her lifetime to mate? But si ni life (it's just life). Amid the hustle, there is the beauty of unity, hard work, responsibility, and a strong will of purpose. Each bee is recognized and dedicated to playing its role for the colony to flourish. My takeaway is the benefits of a good scent. What's yours?

Extra sting - You should also know that the largest species of bees are the Solitary bees. They do not exist in colonies, make honey, nor serve a queen. Since they do not have honey to protect, they are non-aggressive. The male has no sting, and the female only stings if handled violently.