Facts About Bee Stings

Bee stings hurt. How else would Muhammad Ali come up with the famous taunt, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

I remember getting stung once when I was a kid. It hurt but I also remember playing the whole day without minding the pain.

Much like other wild animals, bees only sting when threaten. As you read through a hilarious and informative article at Animals Eating Animals, you learn some more about bees.

Here are some cool facts I about bees and their stings:

• Bees don’t have teeth, they have mandibles.
• Africanized Honeybees (AHBs) can take over a larger hive of European honey bees.
• The bee’s stinger evolved as defense against other bees, not to attack thick-skinned creatures like human.
• A bee ONLY dies if its stinger gets stuck in the victim’s skin ripping it off the bee’s abdomen. This only happens when the victim has thick epidermis.
• Mellitin, among other bio-chemicals, is the main component of bee venom that causes the pain.

Want to learn more about bees? Read my older post on 21 Facts You Didn’t Know About Bees.