Well, today my younger brother told me about how him and his friends were ‘teasing the bee’s at school’.
Then i told him “Dont worry, the bees will get their revenge, just you wait”
but he came back with “Yeah, but when they sting us they will die wont they?”
which followed up with “Do bees know if they are going to die after they sting you?”
i was dumfounded.
So i take it to you, the dopers of the world.
Anyone with answers?
It’s really difficult to say if anything with the very limited cognitive power of an insect or lower animal can actually “know” or reason out a consequence to an action. My guess is no.
Note that only a few types of bees die after stinging you. Many do not, and will happily sting you again and again until you learn your lesson.
I propose that this depends entirely on how you define “know”. Surely bees don’t savor the same reflective rumination we do. But they could put up some sort of struggle, organized by the nervous system, that evolution has reserved for the situation of impending death. Where do you want to draw the line?
Perhaps your child is thinking big thoughts about the enormity of death and imagining facing it himself, and wondering if that emotional drama is being played out in the bee’s head too. I’d answer “No” to that one, on the basis of how much brain tissue I bet you need to provide the memory and association and playing out of hypotheses and so forth to contemplate death. If he asked how I knew, the qualifications and explanations would put the dear fellow into peacefull slumber.
There was an excellent article a few years ago, I forget where, that discussed the funcitoning of the nervous system supporting the human retina. It was the most advanced part of the human nervous system that could more or less be understood completely, i.e. like a computer circuit. This provided a means to estimate, or at least put a lower limit on, the brain tissue needed for some other kinds of functioning.
Bees die, but wasps don’t. Wasps can keep on stinging you until the cows come home because their stingers are smooth, while bee’s are barbed. Unless it’s a Killer Bee. Sure, they die but it doesn’t really make a difference.
As for the “does the bee know it’s dying”, I would assume it has some knowledge programmed in through instinct, because it’ll only sting when absolutley neccessary; if there’s no other hope.
Bee stings don’t usually cause the death of the bee…unless it stings a thick skinned creature like a mammal. If it stings another insect it won’t die. So the bee sting is not primarily a weapon against humans but against other insects.
But remember, that a bee’s unique genetic structure makes the whole “hive” thing work.
Here’s a link explaining how this works:
http://courses.washington.edu/zoo444/Lecture%20outlines/Sociobiology.htm
Since worker bees are already giving up their chance at reproduction in order to assist the queen in producing their sisters, they are perfectly willing to give up their lives to save their sisters.
I don’t even think they know their alive. I would say they are more like computer code (if ____ then _____). They just do it
According to The Onion’s advice columnist Worker Bee #7438-F87904, it would appear that k2dave is right and the answer to the OP is “yes.” I quote:
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Damn! I have been waiting so long to use that!
- Now available in The Onion’s Finest News Reporting, Volume 1
Unequivocally no. Not only do they not know they will die after losing their stinger, they don’t know they will die at all, or are alive for that matter. Many scientists say the same for all creatures other than humans - they have no concept that one day they will die. I know it’s hard to believe in some cases, like dogs, but scientists are NEVER wrong.