Future Scientist Grace Tran on...

BBUUZZZZ!  A BEE!!!

BBBUUZZZZZ.  You might know that familiar sound, the sound of a bee.  Most people know that bees can cause a painful sting.  But there’s more to these tiny winged creatures than you’d actually think.  Bees are like humans in many ways, playing many roles.  Every bee has a task, the three types of bees is the queen, drones, and workers.

The queen bee has one allotted task: to lay eggs.  She can lay as much as 3,000 eggs a day.  She defends her position through a secret substance that is from a tiny gland inside her mouth.  She smears it all over herself.  This mysterious substance is then licked off by worker bees, who depends on it to spread the word whether the queen is alive or not.  When words spread that the queen is no longer alive, worker bees prepare special large eggs.  When the new queens mature, they fight each other to the death.  Then, the champion arises and becomes the new queen. 

Drones are male bees, their job is to claim the queen in a “marriage flight.”  The queen flies loftily into the sky, followed by the drones.  One after another, the drones fall back due to their lack of rest, until one drone is left.  Queen and drone fly together for a brief moment, then the drone dies because of exhaustion.  The queen then returns to the hive, now able to lay fertilized eggs for about three years and starting many new branches of bees.

Worker bees have the most important job.  They are undeveloped females who deserve to be called “busy bees.”  They are constantly coming and going in search of pollen, nectar, and water.  These bees have an extremely masterly adapted body that includes a head, thorax, and segmented abdomen.  The rear legs allow them to scrape pollen as well as depositing pollen into baskets.  The sizable eyes allow the bee to see from quite a distance.  You may or may not know, bees have three eyes on its forehead, which these creatures use for looking at objects up close.  One antenna hangs from their triangular head, which provides them with a sense of smell and touch.

Worker bees are fascinating because in one short month, they play multiple roles.  For example, they play as a nurse for the hive.  Feeding the queen, drones, and larvae.  This is very arduous work, considering that the larvae alone can eat 1,300 meals a day.  In order to feed them, the worker bees must make numerous trips to and from the hive.  Another role that the worker bee plays is a scavenger.  As it reaches old age, the worker bee must fill its honey sac.  In order to do this, it must visit about 1,000 individual florets.

I would like to be a worker bee.  I wouldn’t want to be the queen bee because I feel like they’re lazy, only laying eggs all day.  That wouldn’t be fun, just boring.  I want adventure, to go out into the world.  I would not want to be a drone, who wants to chase the queen like your life depended on it?!  Worker bees are hard working and contribute a lot to the hive.

In brief, bees are interesting in many ways.  The queen lays eggs, the drones earn the queen in the “marriage flight,” and the workers truly deserve the title of “busy bees.”  I’ve shared with you what bee I want to be, what bee do YOU want to “bee-come?”