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WHY DOES HONEY BEES STINK US. |
There are roughly 20,000 species of bees throughout the world, though when we speak of bees most people think of honeybees or bumblebees. These species are social bees that live in hives or colonies and are not generally aggressive. The only time bees sting is when an intruder, be it animal or human, comes too close to a nest, disturbs it, or physically harms a bee. The threatened bee will not only sting in defense, but also release an “alarm pheromone” to attract other bees, signaling them to join in the attack.When bees or wasps sting a person, they inject venom through their stinger into the skin of the victim. Wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets have stingers without barbs that are usually retracted upon stinging, and these insects can sting people multiple times. The honey bee has a barbed stinger that remains in the victim's skin with its venom sack attached. About 3% of people stung by bees and wasps have an allergic reaction to the sting, and up to 0.8% of bee sting victims experience the severe and life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. Worker bees sting only once then die, as the barbed stinger remains lodged in the skin, ripping the bees abdomen away when the bee flies off. Left attached to the topmost portion of the stinger is the venom sac, which can continue to pump venom into the wound for up to 10 minutes. For this reason doctors recommend removing the stinger as soon as possible, |