[ExI] Bees learn to pull a string to get food

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org]

Subject: Re: [ExI] Bees learn to pull a string to get food

 

On Oct 5, 2016, at 6:56 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net <mailto:spike66 at att.net> > wrote:

Bees: those gals get all the breaks.  ....  They can sting (once.)  …

 

Some bees, including bumblebees, can sting more than once. I believe it depends on the stinger being barbed or not.

 

Regards,





Dan

 

 

Ja, but it is a trade-off.  A bumblebee sting doesn’t amount to much of anything.  Half-hearted.  No venom that I could tell.  An honest fire ant can do better.  I am not the best judge of it however: at the time, I was working in bees and had developed a tolerance for honeybee venom, so if bumblebees have a similar chemical structure (and why wouldn’t they?) then I might not have noticed it.  

 

Another point: if you get a honeybee sting and don’t remove the stinger, you can watch the torn-away stinger pulsating every few seconds, which inject venom into its victim.  Unless you are doing it intentionally (for the medicinal properties of bee venom) I do not recommend it.

 

spike

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