It occurred to me that bees and wasps might not be able to tell the difference between materials when they are about to sting. Do they try to sting things like metal or wood or are they able to detect skin somehow? An example would be if someone decided to hit a hive/nest with a baseball bat. The person would definitely get stung, but would they also attack the bat?
A related follow up question is whether they would suffer any adverse effects if they did try to sting something hard. I would guess they don’t have the strength to break or damage their stinger, but if you know please enlighten me.
In: Biology
They can definitely sense skin, and they are excellent at detecting smells, like on a “molecular” level. And your skin smells. If they were to get in your hair, they keep pressing on until they get to your scalp.They’re also great at detecting a face, even through a bee suit. The eyes, the nose, the mouth, basically they hav evolved to hit you where it hurts.
Also important to note that wasps have smooth stingers and can sting repeatedly without damage to themselves while honey bees die when they sting you.
I have had hundreds of honey bee stingers get stuck in my leather gloves or my cotton pants, and plenty of honey bees try and sting my through my veil with no success.
In short, they have a knack for finding the weakest point in the armor. Metal and wood don’t represent a material they have evolved to attack. But that wouldn’t stop them from trying if you were wearing a suit of armor and attacking their hive.
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