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Why Do Bees Die After Stinging? - YouTube
Channel: BE AMAZED
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have you ever been stung by a honey bee
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man it's the worst it burns for hours
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and then swells up leaving a big red
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welt for days but as bad as it feels
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it's actually the bee that gets the raw
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end of this deal because a few minutes
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after it stung you it dies wait why
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would an animal have a self-defense
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mechanism that's more deadly to it than
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the thing it's attacking that doesn't
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make sense well there's actually a lot
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more to this kamikaze defense mechanism
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than meets the eye so put on some thick
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gloves and get ice ready because we're
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about to take a pretty painful look into
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the secrets of bee stings
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sting
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you might not want to admit it but if
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you've ever been stung by a bee it was
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probably your fault sorry to be the
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bearer of bad news but in general bees
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only sting humans if we approach their
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hives or threaten them with aggressive
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or reckless behavior if a bee is hunting
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for pollen they'll leave us alone unless
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we handle them roughly or step on them
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now you may have heard that all bees die
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after stinging well actually only the
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honeybee does when any bee stings you it
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simply inserts its stinger into your
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skin in the case of honeybees however
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their stinger is made of two barbed
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landsets giving it rougher edges that
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can act as tiny hooks because of these
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land sets when a honeybee inserts its
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stinger into the skin it can't pull the
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stinger back out and that doesn't stop
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the honeybee from trying though the
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second they try to take off not only is
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their stinger pulled out but the muscles
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nerves and parts of their digestive
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system attached to it are torn out of
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their backside as well it's a nasty way
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to go if you ask me but there's an even
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more tragic element to it when honeybees
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sting insects as they often do when bugs
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try to attack the hive they can remove
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their stingers just fine it's all down
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to the amount of fiber in the animal's
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skin that causes the stinger to lodge
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those barbed land sets are designed to
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dig in as deep as possible and when it
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comes to a mammal's fibrous skin there's
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no removing that stinger without ripping
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it out so those poor honeybees have no
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idea that when they sting us the impact
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will kill them but back to us humans
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what impact does a bee sting really have
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on our skin well bee stings inject a
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venomous toxin called melatonin which
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gives the sting its painful effect and
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if you're allergic to bee stings it's
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actually it's melatonin that you're
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allergic to the toxin causes redness and
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swelling at the site of the attack and
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since bee venom dissolves in water it's
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able to spread around the human body
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with ease if you weren't aware sixty
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percent of the human body is water so
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there's a lot of spreading to be done
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now if you are ever stung by a honeybee
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you must remember to remove the stinger
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immediately alongside those muscles and
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nerves the pulsating sacs of melatonin
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the honeybee leaves behind will continue
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to pump venom into the skin until
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they're removed so you better pick them
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out as soon as possible the longer it's
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in there the more melatonin is injected
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and the itchier and more swollen the
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area will get as this poor guy found out
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when a bee stung his tongue ugh i'm
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reaching for the ice just thinking about
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it sounds painful but you know what
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literally can't hurt hitting those like
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and subscribe buttons down below all
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done great now we've seen how honeybees
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meet their fate but why do they decide
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to sting and how do they deal with
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butt-dwelling parasites like this well
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stick with me to find out
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stingless bees
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now to anyone terrified of bees what i'm
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about to say might sound like a joke a
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lot of bees are actually unable to sting
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that's right all male bees and many
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female bees from different bee families
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simply cannot sting in fact the
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andrenidae are an entire family of bees
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whose stingers are so drastically
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reduced they couldn't sting you if they
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wanted to there's also another group of
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bees called the meli ponini also known
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literally as stingless bees these tend
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to be found in subtropical regions like
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australia
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africa southeast asia and parts of
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brazil and mexico in fact most bees in
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central and south america are stingless
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so if you really really hate bee stings
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now you know where to head on vacation
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so without a usable stinger how do
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stingless bees defend themselves well
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like many other insects they bite
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instead however just like their stinging
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cousins these bees use their bite to
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cling onto their enemy to the death
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either theirs or the enemies so they're
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just as self-sacrificial as those bees
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with stingers on second thought i take
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back what i said about ideal vacation
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destinations nowhere is safe like
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regular bees stingless hives have been
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known to consist of anywhere between
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three thousand to eighty thousand
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workers that being said only a small
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number of stingless bee species produce
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enough honey to be farmed by humans but
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that doesn't mean we haven't found used
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for them because of their relatively
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harmless nature many people especially
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in brazil choose to keep stingless bees
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as pets so if you're looking for a pet
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but don't fancy any of the traditional
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options a stingless bee colony might be
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what you're looking for it won't require
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walking you wouldn't have to pick up its
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poop and you could get a little free
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honey at the end of it suddenly my dog
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is looking like a bit of a bum
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investment
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the stinging scheme
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bringing it back to bees that can sting
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have you ever wondered how a bee makes
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the decision to use it stinger well to
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answer that question we first have to
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understand pheromones a pheromone is a
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chemical or a mixture of chemicals
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released by an organism that affects the
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behavior of other members of the same
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species so it's information communicated
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mainly by an organism's sense of smell
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the idea that there are chemical
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messages floating around us all the time
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may sound a bit crazy but pheromone
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signaling like this is essential to a
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bee's survival for example a primer
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pheromone causes long-term changes in
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the physiology and behavior of a bee yep
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a chemical signal alone can literally
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alter a bee's body during development
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whoa but a releaser pheromone causes a
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rapid change in behavior so alarm
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pheromones which are a type of release
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or pheromones are emitted immediately
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after a bee stings something this alerts
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other bees to something like a threat
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entering the hive instructing all those
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that can sense the pheromone to attack
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the intruder but when do they know how
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to stop well a team of researchers from
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the universities of constance and
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innsbruck helped answer this question in
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2021 they found that bees base their
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decisions about whether to sting or not
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almost solely on the amount of this
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alarm pheromone in the atmosphere in
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addition to this they learned bees hold
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two internal thresholds that measure the
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pheromone's level one that tells them
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when to begin stinging and one that
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tells them when to stop almost like an
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internal thermometer but for violence
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these pheromones can also help the bees
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determine the extent of the threat they
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face with more pheromones in the air
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indicating more danger as such the bees
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work out the level of danger via the
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level of alarm pheromone in the
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atmosphere so the more an intruder is
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stung the more bees come to fight it off
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considering a single colony can consist
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of more than one hundred thousand bees
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that's one fight you definitely don't
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want to be on the wrong side of
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killer bees
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back in 2019 it was estimated that your
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odds of kicking the bucket because of an
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allergic reaction to a bee sting was
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just one in 59
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507
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or
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0.00168 percent
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most of us can breathe easy except those
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are your odds if you're faced with
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regular honeybees your odds of surviving
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dramatically decrease if you're faced
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with the africanized bees of north and
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south america these are bees that were
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taken to brazil in 1956 by scientists
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attempting to develop a honeybee better
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suited to a tropical climate the african
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bees were placed in quarantine but 26
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queens broke out the queens then began
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breeding with native brazilian bees
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resulting in a species of
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ultra-aggressive
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ultra-lethal mutant bees who have formed
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hives all across the americas now tell
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me that's not the best villain origin
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story you've ever heard these
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africanized bees are very defensive and
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will fight back with all guns blazing or
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more accurately all stingers stinging at
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even the smallest provocation i'm not
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joking this species have fatally injured
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more than 1 000 people with victims
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found with 10 times more stings than
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european bees not only that they've been
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known to chase people for up to a
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quarter of a mile now this scarily high
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death rate isn't because africanized
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bees have a more venomous sting than
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others it's that they attack in huge
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numbers with reports of swarms reaching
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a terrifying 800 000 bees i suppose the
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only question now is how many stings a
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person can withstand before the worst
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happens well the average person can
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tolerate around 10 stings for each pound
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of their body weight that means
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discounting an allergic reaction the
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average adult human can withstand
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roughly one thousand stings whereas a
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child can only tolerate up to five
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hundred so versus eight hundred thousand
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angry africanized bees less than point
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two percent of the swarm would be enough
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to end you
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well
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i don't know about you but i'm going to
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work on my ability to run a quarter of a
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mile fast
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[Music]
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wasps the difference
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now we couldn't do a video about bees
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nature's honey givers without mentioning
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wasps nature's apples unlike a bees wasp
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stingers aren't barbed meaning they can
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be used over and over without risk of
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the creature dying unfortunately but
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while their stings might feel the same
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wasp stings are actually made up of a
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completely different set of toxins one
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way to measure this is on the ph scale
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which ranks a substance from 0 to 14
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depending on how acidic it is a zero on
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the ph scale is purely acidic like
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battery acid and a 14 is entirely
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alkaline like drain cleaner so as
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another example water is a 7 on the ph
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scale right in the middle because it is
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neither acidic nor alkaline and is
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therefore classed as neutral so where do
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b and wasp stings land on the ph scale
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well with a score of between 4.5 and 5.5
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bee stings veer towards being slightly
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acidic well with a score of between 6.8
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and 6.9 wasp stings are ever so slightly
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more alkaline that means bee stings are
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about as acidic as tomato juice and beer
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while wasp stings are about as alkaline
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as saliva milk and urine
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given those two comparisons i'd much
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rather be stung by a bee the ph scale
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not only demonstrates how different b
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and wasp stings are but also why humans
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have distinct reactions to them while
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there are many similarities in the
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body's reaction to toxins you might be
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surprised to discover that people who
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are allergic to bee stings are not
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necessarily allergic to wasp stings and
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it's the same the other way around of
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course but still while you're discussing
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wasp and bee stings make sure you know
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wasps the difference but this is all
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without mentioning the bee's other
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cousin the hornet now
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technically hornets are a specific type
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of wasp but they are so much larger than
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the average wasp they've earned their
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own classification and reputation
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hornets are generally a little
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friendlier than wasps but when they do
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get aggressive their stings are far more
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painful because their venom contains a
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high amount of acetylcholine a powerful
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pain stimulant as if they've been
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designed by satan himself just to
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deliver pain however they're not immune
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to pain themselves
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standard hornets can grow up to two
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inches in size which makes them big
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enough to be infected by xenos mautoni
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parasites that live inside the hornet's
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body the xenos parasite causes the
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hornet to drastically alter its behavior
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flying to meet other infected hornets so
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the xenos parasites can mate the male
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parasite exits its host hornet and
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crawls into a hornet hosting a female
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parasite as such hornets infected with
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the male parasite will die when they're
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removed the parasites can look like the
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most dangerous stingers in the insect
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kingdom but mercifully they're more of a
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danger to the hornets than they are to
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humans
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sting spawners
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now i've been calling them stingers but
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the scientific name for the pointy end
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of a bee is actually the ovipositor and
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believe it or not they're intended to do
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more than just deliver a painful prick
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so what is an ovipositor a good question
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me well an ovipositor is a tube-like
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organ used by some female organisms
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insects in particular to help maneuver
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its eggs
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as such ovipositors are designed to
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prepare space for an egg and then
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transmit it before attaching it to a
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surface so the so-called stingers of
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bees as well as wasps hornets and ants
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are really ovipositors except because
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they've been utilized for another
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purpose they're what we call modified
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ovipositors in the case of bee stingers
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the ovipositors are modified with the
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venom glands we saw in action earlier
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for their part queen bees who are the
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lone reproducers within the colony in
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most cases do not have the same
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ovipositors as your average worker bee
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the ovipositor on a queen bee is smaller
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smoother and unbarbed making it more
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adept at laying eggs something the queen
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definitely needs seeing as at their peak
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a healthy queen can lay up to 3 000 eggs
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a day but when a queen meets another
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queen the ovipositor is used as a
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stinger and a fight to the death ensues
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highlander style because there can be
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only one and for their part worker bees
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can use their ovipositors for their
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traditional purpose if a hive becomes
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queenless the pheromones the queen
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releases to stop ovary development in
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other female bees is ceased this means
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without the queen the bees bodies
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develop the organs they need to
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reproduce however if by some freak
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accident a worker bee tries to lay eggs
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while the queen is still alive a
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conflict would ensue
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looks like there's only room in the hive
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for one queen bee
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elephant enemies
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you may have heard that elephants are
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hilariously afraid of mice well the jury
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is still out on whether that's true or
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not but there is another animal that
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definitely haunts an elephant's
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nightmares and can you guess which one
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yep elephants are terrified of bees as
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unbelievable as it sounds the largest
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land animal in the world reacts wildly
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to these teeny tiny insects you see
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while human skin is penetrable to bees
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elephant skin is too tough to even make
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a dentin what bees can do is attack the
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more sensitive parts of an elephant like
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its trunk mouth and eyes in massive
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swarms causing it great pain now
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elephants are so large that they
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generally have no natural predators so
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they're not used to this sort of
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terrifying invasion so much so that
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conservationists actually use this fear
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as a means of protecting the elephants
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from poachers and farmers researchers
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and advocates now recommend that farmers
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border their farms with beehives to keep
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the elephants off their land and this
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works in a whopping eighty percent of
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cases there's just one catch the farmers
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have to use real bees despite their
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irrational fear elephants have the
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largest brains of any land animal
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containing as many neurons as the human
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brain this means they're smart enough to
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tell the difference between an empty
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beehive and an active one in some cases
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where just the sound of buzzing bees
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were played from the hive the elephants
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managed to quickly establish that the
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threat was not real now those are some
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jumbo smarts
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bee therapy
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you'd think after all we learned that
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most people would get as far away from a
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bee sting as possible well if that's
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your take then you're in for a surprise
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because some people think it's good for
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them i'm talking about appy therapy
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otherwise known as b venom therapy which
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is the name for medical treatments
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administered through bee stings
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therapy with b venom can involve
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receiving up to 40 stings in a single
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session
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ice is used throughout to numb the skin
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and reduce pain the rationale behind api
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therapy is that bee stings cause
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inflammation and therefore trigger an
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anti-inflammatory response in the body
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this could potentially benefit people
[1104]
with muscular conditions like ms but
[1107]
other people just like it because
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wherever there's a crazy health fad
[1111]
there's a group of even crazier people
[1113]
undergoing the treatment in 2005 a
[1116]
clinical trial compared people with ms
[1119]
who received b venom therapy every week
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with those who received no treatment
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after 24 weeks measuring elements like
[1126]
fatigue and quality of life the results
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were in
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and drum roll please absolutely no
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difference was found between the two
[1135]
groups well thank god no one's told
[1137]
gwyneth paltrow about this yet
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who knew there was so much behind one
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little bee sting have you ever been
[1144]
stung yourself or do you have any
[1146]
incredible tales stemming from a single
[1149]
sting let me know down in the comments
[1151]
below and thanks for watching
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