Remember the old joke about the father who went out to get milk and never came back? Well, let’s just say, in and around Bee Town, that’s a prevalent story, but with a plot twist, here-- not only did the father not come back, he never existed to begin with! That’s right—male bees have grandfathers but no fathers. Absurd, Bizarre, how you ask? Well then hop on this ride with me into the world of bees, where the family drama is stickier than honey and the science is as intricate as a honeycomb.
THE ABCs OF BEES
Honeybees are social insects that live in colonies, each led by a single queen. In addition to the queen, there are thousands of worker bees (constituting around 85-95% of the population) and a few male bees known as drones (5-15%).
Now, male bees—aka drones—are born with the sole purpose of mating with a queen from another hive in a process known as nuptial flight. They don’t do much else, which might sound like a sweet deal, but there’s more to their existence than meets the eye (or antennae). The fate of the drones is rather pitiful, for they are doomed if they mate and doomed if they don’t. The mating flight happens at a good height of around 600-700 meters, a height only healthy drones can reach to copulate. Those who don’t manage to do so return to their hives where they’re now neglected, not fed, and left to starve to death. In the case of those drones who manage to mate with the queen, their reproductive organs remain implanted in the queen bee and the drones fall to the ground to their gruesome end. The queen bee can store the sperm in her spermatheca for up to three years and consequently fertilize some of her eggs regularly.
So, what’s the deal with these drones having no fathers? Let’s unpack this buzzing anomaly.
The story unfolds with our queen bee, who as we discussed earlier is essentially in charge of laying eggs and ensuring the hive’s continuation. The queen lays two types of eggs—fertilized and unfertilized.
Fertilized eggs are destined to become female bees (either workers or new queens, depending on how they’re treated). Unfertilized eggs, on the other hand, develop into male drones. This is totally an egg-sclusive club for fatherless buzzers.
The Science Behind Being Fatherless
The reason male bees have no fathers comes down to a fascinating process called parthenogenesis. This is where an egg develops into an embryo without being fertilized. Consequently, drones are ultimately the result of a queen’s solo act. Surprisingly, only males are born out of parthenogenesis, the females are a result of the funny buzinezz.
Grandpa Bee – The Real OG
If drones don’t have fathers, then, how do they have a grandfather? Let’s take a closer look at the queen’s family tree.
The Queen’s Lineage
The queen bee herself is born from a fertilized egg. This means she has both a mother and a father. So, when you hear about a drone’s grandfather, you’re talking about the queen’s father—the drone’s maternal granddad, who had unfortunately died after doing the dirty with grandma.
It’s a classic case of “you don’t get to meet the granddad, but you still benefit from his legacy.”
It turns out bees do have grandfathers, at least on one side of the family, but no fathers—proving that even in the insect world, the only thing more complex than family dynamics is trying to explain them at a family reunion.
Bees are primary pollinators, which means they play a vital role in helping plants reproduce. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, one-third of the world’s food production depends on bees. This article is to serve as a reminder of the absolutely crazy yet creatively unique way in which our nature creates, nurtures, and functions and how important it is to preserve it.
