Social insects: ants and bees
Ants and honeybees live in colonies and share tasks such as collecting food, building and guarding. Queens mainly lay eggs. Male honeybees are called drones. Guards are workers, and workers can change tasks. A hive houses a honeybee colony. Many other kinds of bees live alone.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Describe at least two roles in an ant or honeybee colony, including egg laying by queens and tasks done by workers
- Explain that ants and honeybees live in colonies where workers share jobs, including guarding
- Compare shared tasks in an ant or honeybee colony with tasks in a human team, while recognising that workers can change jobs
1 · Read
You have met ants and honeybees as insects. They live in groups called colonies. A hive is a home for a honeybee colony, not the group itself. Many other kinds of bees live alone. Ants and honeybees share colony jobs.
A queen's main role is laying eggs. Honeybee colonies usually have one queen. Ant colonies may have one queen or several. Workers care for young and do other colony tasks. Male honeybees are called drones. They mate with queens rather than collecting food like workers.
Workers collect food, build and care for young. Ant workers may dig tunnels. Honeybee workers build wax cells. Guards are workers protecting the nest. Workers can change tasks as they grow or as needs change. One worker might collect food and later guard.
Think of people preparing a team meal. Some wash vegetables, some cook and some set the table. Sharing tasks helps get the meal ready. People can change tasks when help is needed. Colony workers also share tasks, helping provide food, shelter and care for the young.
To read the job chart, match each job name to its bar. A taller bar means more workers in that group. The tallest bar has the largest count. These made-up counts are not a rule for real colonies.
Ants and honeybees share colony jobs. Queens mainly lay eggs. Workers collect food, build and guard. Workers can change tasks.
Original lesson, questions and flashcards written for this learning dataset.
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More to read
What is this worker doing now?
Watching an ant carry food tells you about its task at that moment. It does not tell you every task it will do during its life.
Other workers may care for young ants, work on the nest or protect it. A guard is a worker doing a protection task.
Workers can change tasks. When you describe an observation, say what you saw: an ant carrying food or a worker guarding an entrance. Avoid deciding that this must be its only job forever.
The group and its home
A honeybee colony is the group of bees. A hive is a home for that group.
The queen's main role is laying eggs. Workers collect food, build wax cells, care for young bees and guard. Drones are male honeybees that mate with queens.
These roles describe a honeybee colony. They do not describe every kind of bee. Many other bees live alone. Naming the kind of bee helps you avoid making a claim about all bees.
Compare the shared work
At a team meal, one person may wash vegetables while another cooks. Someone else can set the table. Sharing these tasks helps the group get the meal ready.
An insect colony also needs different tasks done. Workers help provide food, shelter and care for young. They can change tasks when needs change.
This comparison is about sharing work. It does not mean that a queen gives spoken orders or that each worker has a permanent job.
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2 · Watch
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Where it sits
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.