Tag: bumblebee

  PART FOUR Once the males have hatched, they leave the nest never to return. Their sole purpose is to feed, mate, then die— it is a very short life for the humble male. Most will never mate but those that do will pass on the genes from the mother queen bee and the grandmother, great grandmother etc. hence the…

  PART THREE All the bees born in spring and early summer are female, born from the queen’s eggs and the male’s stored sperm packet. They are all sisters who are 75% related to each other. We are up to late summer now, and things are going to get a little tense in the nest. As late summer arrives the…

  PART TWO The discussion I had with students from St Maurices’ about bumblebees will remain with me forever. For two years I would be stopped in the corridors by one or two students who asked me to repeat the bumblebee’s tale, as they couldn’t get their heads around the genetics of how brothers and sisters are related differently. It…