Why do bees sting even though they would die after?
In: Biology
DNA is like the instructions for building you. It decides things like your eye color and your hair color—everything that makes you, *you*. But DNA’s main job isn’t just to make you; it’s to keep making more of itself in new creatures. A long time ago, DNA figured out that it could work better by teaming up. Instead of just making copies of itself, it would mix with other DNA to make new babies that are stronger.
For bees, something really interesting happened with their DNA. Girl bees, like worker bees, realized that instead of having babies themselves, they could help their mother, the queen bee, have lots and lots of babies. The worker bees are more related to their sisters than they would be to their own kids, so it’s better for them to help their mom make more sisters than to have babies themselves!
That’s why worker bees don’t have babies, and they even sacrifice themselves by stinging to protect the hive. When they sting to protect the queen and the hive, they are making sure their sisters—and the queen—can keep passing on the same DNA. It might seem strange, but they do it because helping their family is the best way for their DNA to survive and reproduce.
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