THESE BEES BITE INSTEAD OF STING?! 🐝

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Did you know that stingless bees will actually bite instead of stinging you?

[00:00:03]These are stingless bees, or meliponini honey bees. Instead, they defend their nest by biting intruders or swarming into their hair and eyes, and some can even secrete formic acid out of their jaws, causing painful blisters. These stingless bees can also produce their own kind of honey, which they store inside of little wax pots that look like tiny jars [music] rather than hexagonal honeycombs like traditional hives. And their honey is often more watery and tangy than regular honey as it contains more moisture. Ancient Maya civilizations in Mexico and [music] Central America kept stingless bees for honey long before European honey bees arrived in the Americas. They are smaller than the average bee and are important pollinators for crops like coffee and mangoes, with various species living in tropical ecosystems [music] throughout the world, including the Amazon rainforest and even Australia.

[00:00:50]But due to competition with European and Africanized bees and declining ecosystems, these unique honey bees are now highly endangered now more than ever.