Observatoire des droits humains (anglais seulement)

Most bees don’t die after stinging – and other surprising bee facts

(Version anglaise seulement)

par James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong
Amy-Marie Gilpin, Lecturer in Invertebrate Ecology, Western Sydney University
Rosalyn Gloag, School of Life and Environmental Sciences Research Fellow, University of Sydney

Most of us have been stung by a bee and we know it’s not much fun. But maybe we also felt a tinge of regret, or vindication, knowing the offending bee will die. Right? Well, for 99.96% of bee species, that’s not actually the case.

Only eight out of almost 21,000 bee species in the world die when they sting. Another subset can’t sting at all, and the majority of bees can sting as often as they want. But there’s even more to it than that.

To understand the intricacies of bees and their stinging potential, we’re going to need to talk about the shape of stingers, bee genitals,…

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