The video provides a comprehensive exploration of bee stings, their impact on humans, and the reasons behind the behavior of bees when they sting. It begins with a narrator discussing their personal experience with a honeybee sting and the discomfort it caused. The narrator then explains that the bee's sting is a self-defense mechanism, but it's more deadly to the bee than to the human it stings.
The video then dives into the science of bee stings. It explains that honeybees, unlike most bees, only sting humans when they feel threatened, and that the bee's stinger, made of two barbed lancets, remains embedded in the human's skin. This causes the bee to die, as it can't remove the stinger without ripping it out. The toxin injected by the bee, melittin, causes redness and swelling at the site of the sting, and can spread around the body due to the human body's high water content.
The video also discusses the behavior of bees when they sting. It explains that bees use pheromones to communicate whether they should sting or not, and that they have internal thresholds that determine when to start and stop stinging. The video also mentions the existence of Africanized bees, which are extremely aggressive and can sting in large numbers, posing a significant threat to humans.
The video then delves into the differences between bee and wasp stings, explaining that they are made up of different sets of toxins and that humans have distinct reactions to them. It also mentions the existence of hornets, a type of wasp, which
1. Honeybees sting humans when they approach their hives or threaten them with aggressive or reckless behavior.
2. The honeybee's stinger is made of two barbed lancets, which can act as tiny hooks.
3. When a honeybee stings, it can't pull the stinger back out, causing the bee to be torn apart.
4. Bee stings inject a venomous toxin called melittin, which causes redness and swelling at the site of the attack.
5. Bee stings can also cause an allergic reaction.
6. Stingless bees, such as those from the Andrenidae and Meliponini families, cannot sting.
7. Stingless bees defend themselves by biting, similar to their stinging cousins.
8. The decision to sting or not is based on the amount of alarm pheromone in the atmosphere.
9. Bees have two internal thresholds that measure the pheromone's level: one that tells them when to begin stinging and one that tells them when to stop.
10. Africanized bees are very defensive and will fight back with all guns blazing (or stingers stinging) at even the smallest provocation.
11. The average person can tolerate around 10 stings for each pound of their body weight.
12. Wasp stings are made up of a completely different set of toxins than bee stings, and they are slightly more alkaline on the PH scale.
13. The ovipositor of a bee is a tube-like organ used to help maneuver its eggs.
14. The ovipositor on a queen bee is smaller, smoother, and un-barbed, making it more adept at laying eggs.
15. Elephants are terrified of bees and can react wildly to massive swarms of bees, causing them great pain.
16. Apitherapy, or bee venom therapy, involves administering medical treatments through bee stings.
17. A clinical trial in 2005 compared people with MS who received bee venom therapy every week with those who received no treatment, and found no difference between the two groups.