Do Bees Die After They Sting?
Bees sting in self-defense. Stinging is their only means of protecting themselves. Female, or worker, bees have barbed stingers at the end of their bodies. When a female thrusts her stinger into flesh, barbs hold her onto the flesh and the stinger pulls out of her body. The bee dies several hours after stinging. Thus, bees can s
Hello Miss Bullock, I hope we can help. Honeybees have barbed stings unlike wasps and other bees, which have smooth ones. This means that the sting gets stuck in the skin of birds or mammals (it will pull free of the chiton of other insects) and once stuck the stinger tears loose from the bee’s abdomen, resulting in death of the bee. Venom will continue to be pumped from a poison sac, through the sting, even once the bee has flown off and died. This self-sacrificial behaviour probably evolved to defend the hive (with its honey) from attacks by large mammals and birds. Although the individual bee dies, it has a much greater impact on the threat than it could do if its sting was smooth.
