Why do bees die when their stinger falls out?

Question

It seems a little ironic that their only defense mechanism actually kills them.

Answer 1

if you are asking why the action kills them, it rips a chunk from their body.

why does it make sense?  well it is meant to protect THE HIVE.  not the bee itself.  so it is to ward of any threat to the hive.  kill one save a thousand type of thing.

Answer 2

its not their defense, it is the defense of the queen, in all actuality, they are giving their lives to protect their queen

Answer 3

A bee's stinger is barbed so that it sticks in you when you get stung. As the bee pulls away its stinger is ripped out of its abdomen and the bee dies from loss of blood. The idea here is that the stinger remains in the victim and continues to pump venom. The bee is sacrficed to do this but one bee out of a hive of thousands doesn't matter. The queen simply lays more eggs to replace them. Makes you glad you're a human, doesn't it?

Answer 4

Bees live in a hive, where the life of one bee is somewhat cheap.  In this sort of structure, it's the queen that is most important, while all of the other bees exist to serve and protect her (and by extension, the hive).  This is exemplified by the fact that most of the bees are female, and all except the queen are incapable of reproducing.  

When a bee attacks an enemy, the stinger gets ripped out, and the venom sac goes with it, continuing to pump its poison into its enemy.  True, the bee dies, but its enemy is more likely to be killed as well.  In the end, the hive will have one less worker bee (which will quickly and easily be replaced), but the hive will be safer as a result.

Some species of wasps don't suffer from this problem.  They don't live in large hives, so the life of one individual is much more valuable.  They have evolved to have smooth stingers that don't get stuck into their target.  Granted, they have to sting their target more times, but the chances of the wasp surviving the encounter are much higher.

Answer 5

When their stingers fall out it often pulls out with it parts of their internal organs and they are pretty much left with a big whole in their body... usually hard to live with that.

Answer 6

When their stinger falls out, their guts do too. It's not so much the bees defense as the bee is the hive's defense. Does that make sense?

Answer 7

i bet i could beat you at tennis, topless or not

Answer 8

When a bee sting a person it does not only leave its stinger behind. It also leaves part of its abdomen. Some vitalorgans are found in the abdomen and therefore the bee dies.

Answer 9

i think for there own pertecion is to sting , but they die for there own saftey!!!!!!

Answer 10

I could probably copy and paste a whole section to do with this off Wikipedia, but honestly i cba so I'll give it to you simply.

When the bee stings something the stinger gets stuck in what its stung's skin. Now bee's aren't exactly the strongest bug in the world and when they've had their stinger ripped out of them it probably took alot of its organs with it, leaving the bee to die painfully. Imaging sitting on something, standing up and find you spine has somehow been injected into the chair and fell off taking some of your organs with it.

By the way, I'm 13 and this is only what i think is what happens, I think its pretty close.

Answer 11

Their stinger is barbed, it won't come out easily.  Because of this once they sting you, they are essentially stuck.  Their abdomen usually rips before your skin or the stinger does.  This injury is fatal.

Answer 12

I think it's because the stinger pulls out the lower intestines.

It does seem ironic, but if you take a look at "bee culture" the losses aren't nearly as damaging as you might think Their number of bees is their strength, not the single bee. It's like China. =)

Answer 13

sure

Answer 14

Yep :) - I think so

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