Incredible photo of a bee sting - abdominal tissue trailing behind - award winning

Admin Update: The photographer who actually took the picture has asked me to add a link to her blog where she describes the entire photography sequence and proves it certainly wasn't "staged". ucanr.org...


I came across this article this morning. It contains an extremely rare photo of a bee sting in action. With all the ongoing press regarding the decline of bees in the world, I thought some of you may be interested in this. Such a great photo.

UC Davis communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey in the Department of Entomology said she has taken at least 1 million photos of honeybees in her lifetime, but this snapshot won the first-place gold feature photo award in an Association for Communication Excellence competition. The international organization includes communicators, educators and information technologists.

Full Article here:
When The Bee Stings

Higher Res image here:
High Res

Have a good day.

Not so much award winning as seriously sad...for the bee.

That's what they put in Honey Nut Cheerios...

Ok. I'm done. This is a really good photo. We never get to see things like this because it happens too fast. I can honestly say that I see something almost everyday that reminds me of how small I am in this big old universe. Our breathtaking planet operates like a well oiled machine indeed! Amazing.

reply to post by Hecate666


More sad for the guy that got stung. Bee stings are annoying as hell and hurt - that's why i kill this buggers on first sight before they even reach me (same as Wasps and all the other crap that flies around and annoys me)

I despise bees. they infest our roof, fly into my room at night when the light is on, and swarm me.

But I do like honey. So I guess the trade off by being stung on your hands to the point your hand feels like a swollen glove pays off.

And chickens.. and sesame seeds

How can I be hungry after looking at a bee stinging some dudes arm and killing itself. Hrmm. weird things in my head tonight.

ahh well, mebbe I'll be able to sleep at some point.

YOSO

You Only Sting Once!

That is an amazing photo, great timing!

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


The guy will live though and he got a good photo out of it, the bee however is dead.
Did you know that we would all die if bees stopped to exist? Here in the UK and elsewhere in the civilised world, it is a crime to destroy bee colonies. You just call the council and they will pick them up.
So maybe you should be a little more grateful for those little 'buggers'. They are the good guys.
They only sting if they feel in danger. I personally pick them up by hand and have never been stung. Maybe they know what kind of guy YOU are.

I wonder if the bee knows that ultimately, it is committing suicide by doing such?

It is really kind of annoying, truly - if it is a product of evolution, and idea which I don't fully accept at its core. What possible benefit would the stinger killing the bee provide to the survival of the bee species, and why would nature have decided to produce it with such an inferior defense mechanism?

How simply would it be to correct? Make the stinger non-barbed. That way it doesn't get stuck. Either that or make the bee's torso stronger so it can pull the damn thing out.

It is things like this that make me question Darwinism completely, because they make absolutely no sense to the theory of it all.

A cool photo and very detailed.

I still hate bees though.

reply to post by gwydionblack


Good musings.

However, let me toss in a few facts. That bee will be dead in two weeks, regardless. It's not committing suicide, per se, but fulfilling it's life cycle.

That bee is a female worker bee. (A forager.) It's life cycle is about 28 days. Yep. That's it. It spends the first few weeks of it's life taking care of other baby bees in the hive, cleaning, and receiving pollen, nectar, and water from the older females that forage outside. It's life is already half over before it is old enough to go out and become a forager itself.

Nature provides a stronger mechanism for hive survival. The queen lays over 30,000 eggs per month during pollen flows in the spring and fall. New bees are constantly being laid (7 days gestation cycle) and then hatched as new worker bees. The hive continuously replenishes itself.

Considering it takes about 1000 stings to provide a lethal dosage of bee venom, there's enough bees in the hive to kill roughly 30 people.

One bee is not missed. There are others to take it's place.

Nice bee sting action shot.. lucky even..

I detest certain bees, but honey bees aren't too bad unless they are the genetically altered ones.. Or Africanized versions..

A long time ago my parents got the christmas ornaments out of storage (without knowing the boxes contained hundreds of yellow jackets that were hibernating for the winter).. They "woke up" after warming up in the house and it was like a hornets nest was in our house..
They crawled under doors and got in my bedroom and woke me up buzzing in my face, but I couldn't see untill turning the lights on..

Quite a horror to wake up to in the winter...

reply to post by grantjennings


Interesting photo. Your title says it's abdominal tissue. That stinger must have traveled a long way internally.
Sorry, must tease. Suggest changing it to radial or just arm tissue?

reply to post by Druid42


As I recall you keep bees Druid.

We are lucky to have someone with such intimate knowledge on this site. I have always been rather fascinated by bee keepers (I feel like I'm missing some sort of awesome title, though bee keeper is pretty bad ass in my opinion) it's really such a cool hobby/job.

Have you done a video/pic thread? I think you did, but I dip into the fermented honey on a regular basis. I'd really love to see the whole process. Even just a thread with pictures and explanations would be really neat. I feel like you have cool bee stories too. Do you have to suit up; the whole shebang? When you collect the honey are they pissed, or just going about bee things? Ugh I really want to look this up now, but would rather wait and see you doing it. If it's not on YouTube already show us soon!

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Oh, on topic and what not. Cool picture.

Originally posted by mainidh
I despise bees. they infest our roof, fly into my room at night when the light is on, and swarm me.

But I do like honey. So I guess the trade off by being stung on your hands to the point your hand feels like a swollen glove pays off.

And chickens.. and sesame seeds

How can I be hungry after looking at a bee stinging some dudes arm and killing itself. Hrmm. weird things in my head tonight.

ahh well, mebbe I'll be able to sleep at some point.

Well, you do realise than honey is puke?????? Bees vomit up their honey.

bee vomit

Originally posted by aboutface
reply to post by grantjennings

 

Interesting photo. Your title says it's abdominal tissue. That stinger must have traveled a long way internally.

Sorry, must tease. Suggest changing it to radial or just arm tissue?

The article described it as abdominal tissue (first sentence of the article) and I'm not that versed in insect biology so I'm just gonna leave it as is. Besides, don't you think it grabs the readers attention? Thanks for reading and making the suggestion though.

I think the one-sting-per-life bees are awesome. Even though they probably know they'll die once they sting, they do it anyway for their queen or colony or species or whatever motivations bees have for doing what they do. They're like little "suicide stingers".
And I've definitely got a bit of respect for them after one stung me literally intravenously in my hand. My whole hand swelled up so bad I couldn't even move my fingertips. It looked like one of those glove balloons. Brutal little insects.

reply to post by aboutface

Suggest changing it to radial or just arm tissue?

It's the bee's abdominal tissue.

reply to post by windus

Aboutface does a facepalm and blushes.

Of course it is. How dumb was I to have forgotten about the article and quickly posted as I did? I was interrupted and distracted all day. Sorry OP.

reply to post by Hecate666


bee's aren't necessary for pollination, it is just the most effective method.

maybe there is a monsanto conspiracy to kill of their most dangerous competitor.

they can then set up pollination plants, pollinating plants with industrial dusting machinery and selling the seeds to farmers around the world at highly inflated costs.

Originally posted by Domo1
reply to post by Druid42

 

As I recall you keep bees Druid.

We are lucky to have someone with such intimate knowledge on this site. I have always been rather fascinated by bee keepers (I feel like I'm missing some sort of awesome title, though bee keeper is pretty bad ass in my opinion) it's really such a cool hobby/job.

Have you done a video/pic thread? I think you did, but I dip into the fermented honey on a regular basis. I'd really love to see the whole process. Even just a thread with pictures and explanations would be really neat. I feel like you have cool bee stories too. Do you have to suit up; the whole shebang? When you collect the honey are they pissed, or just going about bee things? Ugh I really want to look this up now, but would rather wait and see you doing it. If it's not on YouTube already show us soon!

-----------

Oh, on topic and what not. Cool picture.

Yeah, I did a thread on beekeeping. Videos included.

However, those pics are way outdated. We have a different setup now, and seven hives also. The apiary constantly changes.

Beekeeping Thread by Druid42.

It's only three pages, so if you surf through you can find the vids. Lots-o-pics as well.

Enjoy.