Frequently Asked Questions…
…About Bee Anatomy
“Why does a bee have wings?” — E.
“Why do bees have antennae?” — A.
“Why are bees eyes [glasses] so hard to see through?” — W.
Answers:
To start, bees have two sets of wings: the larger forewings and the hindwings. Though social bees have been around since the Cretaceous period (the same time as the dinosaurs!) insects with wings have been around since the Devonian (about 400 million years earlier!). Insects use their wings to get around: they escape predators, they catch food, they find mates, and they seek shelter from the higher vantage point they get while flying.
Also helping in this hunt for resources are a bee’s antennae. An insect’s antennae has a lot of joints (like in your fingers or toes) that lets them move around. Insects use their antennae to smell. Imagine having two noses poking out from the top of your head!
Finally, the bee goggles may make you feel dizzy because they represent compound eyes. These are eyes with dozens and dozens of lenses and are made up of little units called ommatidia, which sense light. Humans eyes have only one lens each. Our eyes can only take in so much information: any more and they get confused!
… About Bee Conservation
“What can I do to help get the Rusty-Patched bee off of the endangered species list?” — S.
“Are we close to getting the Rusty-patched bee off the endangered list?” — A.
“What can we do to help wild bees?” — C.
“Why should I care about bees?” — N.
Answers:
These wonderful questions show how important it is to keep wildlife in our thoughts, even when we can’t see them! Bees may be hibernating this time of year, but there’s still lots we can do to prepare for their awakening this spring and beyond.
The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee is still recognized as an endangered species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but even bees that aren’t considered endangered (as well as other pollinators) can still benefit from the following tips:
Get your hands dirty: Start a small pollinator garden with native plants. A “native plant” is a plant that occurs naturally in your area and hasn’t been introduced from another state or region. Planting flowers with a variety of colors and shapes will attract a range of pollinators. A local garden shop can help you pick out the plants that will be best for your home and yard.
Get informed: What kinds of pesticides does your school use on its playing fields? Do your parents use chemical fertilizers on the lawn? Learn about different chemicals that humans use to deter insects or that might make them sick. The first step to teaching someone else is learning enough yourself.
Speak out: You can contact your state and local representatives and share with them the issues that concerns you, even if you aren’t old enough to vote. You can call or send an email to them about conservation, preservation, insects, or anything that you think is important and that they should know and work to pass laws and ordinances about. Start by going to usa.gov/elected-officials to search for the people who represent you in government.
This may seem difficult, especially if you haven’t thought much about bees before, but it’s so important! Many bees, not just the Rusty Patched Bumblebee, work as pollinators: they transfer pollen from one plant to another, which in turn helps the plant make fruit and reproduce, making new plants. You probably know a lot of the fruits that bees pollinate: apples, pears, blueberries, melon, and dozens more! Bees are essential to growing the delicious fruits and vegetables that keep us healthy!
The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee’s current range is in the Midwest (states like Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana), but there are still bees here in upstate New York that we depend on and that will benefit from these actions. There’s no need to wait until an animal or plant is on the endangered species list to begin thinking about their conservation. We live on an amazingly diverse planet and should work to keep it that way!
… About Bee Stings
“Why does a bee sting you even though you are not bothering the bee?” — E.
“Why don’t bumblebees sting?” — A.
“How do bees sting?” — V.
“Why do bees sting you?” — S.
“How do bees sting?” — F.
Answers:
One of the most common inquiries we’ve been getting in our bee question box here at the Museum of the Earth has been about bees and their stingers, and it’s no surprise! Many people have been stung by bees, and therefore are cautious around them or fear them. However, for those that aren’t allergic, the risk of health issues after a bee sting are very low.
Many, but not all, bees have a stinger, which is a small, hard piece that juts out of the end of the bee’s abdomen. In terms of evolution, this stinger is a modified ovipositor, or the organ that laid eggs. As most social bees (think bumblebees) don’t lay eggs themselves, they’ve evolved to use their stingers for defense. Bees sting by inserting this stinger into the skin of their target and emptying their venom sacks.
A bee stings to defend itself. A solitary bee will sting intruders or those that disturb their individual nests. They won’t work together with other solitary bees. Social bees, like honeybees, work with other bees within their hive to defend it. The best course of action with any wildlife is to give them plenty of space and admire from afar. If a bee flies near you, let it pass and go on its way. It’s probably just curious!
Contrary to what you may have heard, not all bees will die after stinging you. Some, such as the common honeybee, will, but solitary bees, and some important social bees like the queen, can sting you multiple times with no injury to themselves.
If you’re unlucky, the best way to remove a bee stinger is to use a stiff plastic card, like a credit card, and gently scrape at the skin until the stinger is rolled or pushed out of the skin. It will hurt for a while, but cool water or an ice pack can help with the swelling.
… About Bee Food
“If a bee gets stuck in honey can they get out?” — O.
“Do bees carry honey?” — K.
“Why do bees drink nectar?” — T.
Answers:
Honey and bees go together like, well, bees and honey! You rarely hear of one without the other.
Honey is something that’s only made by some insects; other bees may eat nectar, floral oils, or even tears! Bees aren’t the only ones who love the taste of honey either: humans have been collecting honey from bees for thousands of years, and we have cave paintings of humans climbing trees to get to bee nests and the sweet treats inside.
Honey starts as nectar, or a sweet liquid that is collected by bees from flowers. Nectar from different flowers will make different tasting honey. Bees carry nectar in their crop, or “honey stomach,” until they return to their nests and spit it up into a honeycomb. Bees then use their wings to fan the nectar, which causes water to evaporate and the nectar to get thicker. The honeycomb cells are then sealed with beeswax. Bees will reopen these cells when they are ready to eat the honey during the winter months. Because the honey is kept sealed in the honeycomb, the bees won’t get stuck in their hives.
If the bees are owned by a beekeeper, the keeper will take some of the honeycomb out, cut off the beeswax caps, and spin the frame really fast in an extractor, a machine that uses force to fling the honey out of the comb. Then the honey is then filtered and bottled for us to eat! Don’t worry about the bees though: bees often make much more honey than they could ever eat, and a good keeper knows how much to leave them.
… About Bee Bodily Functions
“How do bees poop and pee?” — M.
“How do bees go potty?” — S.
Answers:
At the Museum of the Earth there’s no such thing as a silly question! Many thanks to M. and S. for asking what I’m sure many guests have wondered about while visiting our bee exhibit!
Even though they are very tiny, a bee has many of the same organs that a human does, such as a brain and a heart. Their digestive systems are somewhat like a human’s too.
Bees eat with their proboscis, which acts like a straw to suck up fluids like nectar and water. This material then goes down the esophagus, or throat, and then further down into to foregut, or “honey stomach.” The honey stomach is a storage area used to carry the nectar the bee will want to bring back to the nest.
As for the food that will be digested, it moves into the midgut where it is broken down and nutrients are absorbed. Food then continues down through the ileum to the hindgut where microbes are stored to help with digestion, much like humans do in their own intestines.
Finally, the digested food passes into the rectum, which absorbs water. Finally, the waste products (“poop”) pass through the anus while the bee flies. Uric acid (“pee”) is released at the same time, much like a bird does. The slo-mo video below happens to show a bumblebee “going to the bathroom” at about the 17-second mark. If you come across a bee hive just as spring is warming up, you’ll see dozens of bees swarming just outside of the entrance to the hive. They’ve been hibernating for several months, and now it’s time to go!
“Bumblebee lupine” by the Paleontological Research Institution (YouTube).
Answers to questions above provided by PRI staff.