At the end of this column, SDStaff Doug raises the question that is even more interesting, which is:
“Why are cartoon honeybees black and yellow when real honeybees are actually brown?”
Jesus H. Christ, I thought, that man is absolutely right. Be it Maja the Bee (probably better known in Germany), the Bee Movie and thousands of cartoons - bees are invariably drawn as striped and, if the cartoon strip is coloured, these stripes are invariably black and yellow.
How come? I know that yellow/black is the warning colour scheme of wasps, hornets, etc. I’m absolutely baffled, mostly about myself that I never noticed, but does anybody have an idea why also our dear and harmless bees are drawn that way?
For the same reason cartoons have their entirely own visual iconography, like black and white stripes on prisoners and a head reflector on a doctor; it’s an accepted visual shorthand for a person, place or thing.
I think it was Spider Robinson who pointed out “Roses are red, violets are blue…” except that violets are, well, violet.
ETA: Gotta admit, though, if you’d started by asking me what color bees are, I’d have said “black and yellow, of course” - and I know better.
Because they really are striped a rather yellowy brown and black. Cartoons and comics simplify and exaggerate, so rather than hairy, low contrast, light brown and dark stripes, cartoon bees are proper yellow and black, high contrast, no tricky to draw/animate fuzzy hairiness.
Bugs is gray and white!
When I was a kid, all the giraffes I saw in drawings and cartoons were yellow with black spots. Then I went to the zoo and saw some real life giraffes, and they were white with brown spots.
Why is there no link to the column? Come on people, we’re fighting ignorance here. I did a search and there are too many columns about bugs to narrow it down.
Oh, I’m old enough to remember when head reflectors were entirely real and nearly universal. And striped uniforms were real, too, though I’m uncertain of the time range.
I think the confusion is caused by people conflating honeybees with bumblebees, which are indeed yellow and black. To most people bees are bees are bees.
There are many species of bee. Different species have different colourization. Some are brown, some are black and yellow striped. Some have a few wide stripes, others have many narrow stripes.
