Bees Follow Their Queen. So What Happens if the Queen Gets Stuck in a Vehicle?

And why a weird court ruling has just listed bees as a type of fish

Photo by Kai Wenzel on Unsplash

Bees are in the news more than most insects because they’re incredibly important. If a recent court ruling is to believed, they’re a very important fish. But more on that later.

First, an interesting incident occurred a few years ago when a queen bee found herself trapped in a car — and the swarm knew it. They did not give up on their queen. It’s not that surprising. If the queen dies, the swarm risks dwindling in numbers until they’re all dead and the swarm is no more.

Queens usually don’t just disappear or die

Queen bees are essential for a hive. Without them, normal bee reproduction stops and although the current bees will live out their lives, they won’t replace themselves.

Hives and queens know when a queen’s life is nearly over. Only then does the queen lay eggs containing a future queen. When the first of these new queens hatch, it’ll sting the other eggs so they die and there’s only one queen. If two hatch, they’ll fight to the death. Then that queen reigns until it’s her turn to lay future queen eggs. Should she die or disappear before then, the whole hive is…