What’s That Big Furry Creature in My Flowers?

You’ve got to admit, the title’s got a lot going for it! No, I’m not talking about a raccoon or your husband (!), but about a high-performance, very present pollinator.

(I know that “pollen gatherers” are the ecological stars of the decade. A butterfly, an ant, a hummingbird: we always end up mentioning that “besides, it’s a great pollinator! But my star of the day is truly exceptional, I promise).

Gisèle wrote to me last year asking for an article on this star of the flower beds and, better late than never, here it is. It makes a lot of noise, it’s everywhere, it’s a bit scary when you don’t know it, but it’s basically sweet and gentle like a big teddy bear. I’m talking about the bumblebee!

Yellow and Black

Before I go any further on the subject, I need to guide you in identifying the insect correctly. There’s a lot of confusion about yellow and black bugs, so let me set the record straight.

Let’s start with a wasp and bee look-alike fly, the syrphid. Did you sputter when you said that word out loud? That’s normal!

This fly is harmless: its color serves to scare off potential predators. Animals that mistake it for a biting fly leave it alone. Honestly, would you chase it away with a wave of your hand?

Obviously, on closer inspection, you can recognize the fly: its short antennae, general shape, large eyes and jerky, hovering flight pattern are all very characteristic.

A wasp has a slender waist. It can sting several times, is generally aggressive and predatory. The adult feeds on just about anything: nectar, fruit, sap, aphid honeydew (What’s honeydew? Basically, aphid poop) and insects such as mealybugs. The larvae, on the other hand, are 100% carnivorous. It’s the adults who hunt all kinds of small insects for them. They are an important ally when it comes to eliminating crop pests.

Bees have no waist and are frequently hairy. There are around 20,000 species, the majority of which are NOT yellow and black. Some bees are magnificent: blue, green, metallic, big, small, they come in all shapes and sizes.

They feed mainly on nectar, and this lifestyle makes them rather peaceful, unlike wasps, which are predators. What’s more, not all bees sting. Some may bite to defend themselves. Those with a stinger can sometimes sting several times, while others, like the honey bee, can only sting once, after which it dies. The reason for this is that, once the stinger has penetrated the skin, it does not come out again. When the bee leaves, part of its organs remain attached to the stinger, which is itself stuck in the skin of its victim, leading to the rapid death of the insect.

Not all bees produce honey. In fact, it’s estimated that 9 out of 10 species are solitary, but since honey bees are semi-domesticated, their numbers and proximity to humans give the impression that a bee is always a honey bee.

Now we come to the subject of the day, the bumblebee… which is none other than a type of bee! Did you see me coming? Come on, there were plenty of clues: no size, not aggressive, hairy, feeds on nectar, that’s it!

The Bumblebee

Stocky, fat, round and hairy: that’s the bumblebee. They are generally larger than their look-alikes, although there are several species in the Bombus genus. Like honeybees, bumblebees live in colonies made up of a queen, workers and males, and… they make honey! Don’t look for it at the grocery store, though, as it’s not harvested from pretty combs like its domesticated cousin.

If you have a colony at home, the best thing to do is to leave it alone, as its life cycle is annual: a fertilized female (the queen) finds a cavity in the spring, such as a mouse hole or birdhouse, where she lays her first eggs and starts a colony. In summer, she stays in the drone house and is fed by the workers. In autumn, fertile males and females leave the nest to reproduce. These females, the new queens, find separate hiding places for the winter, while the rest of the colony… dies. The queen is the only one to survive until the next season, and she won’t return to settle in the same place.

This illustrious crowned lady measures up to 32 millimeters in some species. That’s more than an inch!

Dandelions Are for Him!

A fascinating adaptation of the bumblebee is its endothermy. Its what? Its ability to manufacture heat in its body, just like us, other mammals, birds and so on. However, they tolerate a wider range of internal temperatures than humans, making them a poikilothermic endotherm. In contrast, we are homeothermic endotherms, with a stable body temperature. I know, I know, you like the jargon!

Nevertheless, the bumblebee is one of the smallest animals to be “warm-blooded”. (I use quotation marks, because that’s a pretty broad term: sticklers, be quiet!) That’s rare among insects. The beating of their wings, their often buried drones, the black lines that trap heat, and their fur are all ways of keeping warm. This ability to keep warm on their own means that bumblebees are among the first active insects in spring (do you mow in May?), and the last to retire in autumn.

Loud and Vibrant

You’ve heard it buzz, haven’t you? The bumblebee has the particularity of making a lot of noise with its wings, as well as with the vibration of its thorax. This is how they communicate with their fellow bumblebees, and how they are able to carry out vibratile pollination.

I wanted to make a vibrator joke, but Larry has already done so in this article, which explains very well the effect of vibration during pollination. If he compensated for the lack of bumblebees with an electric toothbrush to get tomatoes, you should know that many flowers have evolved to be pollinated by a particular type of insect. It’s no accident or evolutionary error that these flowers need a vibration to be pollinated.

A flower must receive pollen from another flower of the same species. We don’t usually pollinate roses with tulips, do we? To prevent pollinators from visiting just any flower and bringing the wrong pollen to the wrong place, some plants have developed mechanisms that allow specific types of pollinator to get their nectar. For example, the hummingbird, which can search deep in the flower, is more likely to find nectar if the bees haven’t already been there. It will therefore be attracted to these flowers.

Other flowers have evolved for pollinators who can ruffle them slightly by vibration. Such is the case with one of our spring plants: the large-flowered uvularia. It has long, soft, hanging petals that only vibrating insects can penetrate. Insects of the Bombus genus, which are active in early spring, are practically the only pollinators.

But It Does Sting?

When threatened, the female stings. She doesn’t lose her stinger, so she can sting several times. However, like its cousin the honeybee, the bumblebee is not very aggressive. Unless it threatens the nest or crushes it, it is a harmless insect.

Watch them foraging in your lawns and flowerbeds, and it’s quite extraordinary to see them sticking out their tongues to suck up the nectar. Sometimes they’ll even land on us and lick us clean. Learn to channel your zen side if you want to get there – I prefer them in the flowers anyway!

Please note. It should be noted that the compounds in bumblebee venom are similar to honeybees. Reactions vary greatly from one person to another, depending on your sensitivity. If you’re allergic to bees, you’re probably allergic to bumblebees too. It’s good to be zen, but stay cautious: trying to get licked by a bumblebee may not be an activity for you.