All I knew was that bees die after they sting. I didn’t know why, or how. Today I got a crash course and I have to share this with my fellow bee enthusiasts and beekeepers!
I found a lonely bee crawling on the stairway inside our building and I decided to “save her” by putting her in the garden outside. In not the kindest of ways, I gently pinched her wing and picked her up to go. She was an awesome contortionist however, and her stinger was coming out and getting awfully close to my finger. I dropped her but bent down again and let her crawl up on my makeup case so I could carry her to the blooms that way instead. To my astonishment, her stinger disengaged from her body and as she kept creeping along the fabric surface of the makeup case, her innards were coming out in a long sweep, sort of like giving birth (but to something very long!).
Judging from the amount of organs now on the makeup case, it struck me that bees must be extremely empty after stinging, and obviously die.
But it wasn’t over! To my astonishment, the stinger at the end of the organs kept pumping like a heart for about 3-5 minutes after ending up on the makeup case! I ran and grabbed my iPhone, slapping my Olloclip lens onto it to share this macabre science event with fellow bee enthusiasts. I’m certainly not gonna say “Enjoy The Pictures”, because there’s nothing enjoyable about it. But please, it’s meant as a learning opportunity.
