Why Bees Die After Stinging People: Wasps Are More Lucky
Nobody wants to be stung by a bee or a wasp.
The bite of these insects causes a lot of unpleasant sensations, and sometimes – in case of allergy – can be downright dangerous.
But all this can hardly be compared with the consequences of a sting for the bees themselves, who die after stinging a person.
What is noteworthy is that this fate in no way concerns their “brothers” – wasps.
The reason for this is the special shape of the sting. This part of the bees' body has serrations and when stinging, it seems to screw into the skin.
After a bee stings a person, it is unable to easily remove the stinger, and eventually it breaks off from the abdomen, and the bee dies.
Unlike bees, wasps have smooth stingers, which allows them to sting multiple times.
It is not entirely clear why nature did not provide such a mechanism. Some believe that the reason lies in the large number of bees. In one hive, the number of individuals can reach tens of thousands. In such conditions, many insects sacrifice themselves to protect the swarm.
The wasp swarm is much smaller in size than the bee swarm, and the loss of one individual greatly affects the entire colony, making the wasps more aggressive.
Earlier we talked about whether a cactus can save you from thirst.
