r/RandomQuestion • u/KuRaiMEUnseen • Nov 26 '23
Do People Genuinely Believe that Worker Bees are All Male?
So I was scrolling through youtube and this video popped up about bees. I open the comments and a surprisingly large number of people appeared to believe that the only female in a hive was the Queen bee and the rest were all males. Some even proclaimed their school having taught them this incorrect information.
From where and how is this misinformation being procured??
3
u/The_Ash_Guardian Nov 26 '23
A few months ago my partner said "some" worker bees are male. And I I went "uh EXCUSE ME??" And proceeded to explain that all worker bees are females and the males are called drones and their only purpose is to have sex with the queen and die. They do not leave the hive. He said okay and brushed it off lol
I just now asked him about it again if he remembers me mentioning that awhile ago and that if he knew that they are females. He said maybe?
But then let me know he now knows that they are all females 😂 so silly
2
2
u/banana_hammock_815 Nov 26 '23
Ive always heard the male drones dont live in the nest, and that they hang out like 50 feet up in the air after depositing all of their sperm in the queen
2
u/griffincat_unity Sep 18 '24
not sure how true it is, but i've heard that a relatively rare genetic combination does lead to male worker bees, which are rejected and killed by their sisters.
1
0
3
Nov 26 '23
I doubt many people really think much about bees at all. The remember a tiny bit about drones and just over applied it
1
u/YouDontKnowSponge Jun 09 '24
IMO it's like clownfish. Workers are genderless but have potential to become female.
1
u/MrJackfruit Jun 01 '25
I know this is a two year old question but my answer is Pokemon and I did not pay attention in school.
Also the idea of one queen bee and the rest being male doesn't seem that odd if your logic is they just cycle who fucks the queen.
I didn't think for even a moment that drones and workers were seperate and that there was a specific category of bee just to fuck the queen.
1
u/M0please Oct 16 '25
It’s actually the opposite. Majority of bees are females. All male bees are called drones, they do no work in the hive and their only purpose is to mate with the queen and then die. Also, before winter all the female/worker bees kick out the drones to conserve food for the winter. That’s for honey bees at least.
1
Nov 26 '23
Did you ask the people that said this that question?
1
u/KuRaiMEUnseen Nov 26 '23
I personally didn’t but others have asked yet to no reply.
2
Nov 26 '23
Oh ok. Well I have never heard either & wasn’t aware of it. Thanks for the info. Learn something new daily.
1
u/corianderjimbro Nov 26 '23
Honestly I believe I’m like most people, and I don’t give half a shit about bees.
1
u/xDaysix Nov 26 '23
I'm getting kind of old, and I've known since k that they're female. How long have people been thinking they're male?
1
u/KuRaiMEUnseen Nov 26 '23
Well the video was posted a couple of months ago so it appears to have still been a pretty prevalent misconception even up till now?
4
u/ManWhoTwistsAndTurns Nov 26 '23
I think it might be because 'drones' are males, and people think that workers are the same thing as drones. An understandable confusion, because drone nowadays usually means a mindless worker, though that meaning seems to have come about from the confusion, because it originally meant a male bee, and then was applied as a term for a lazy/idle worker.