Sting
Queen and worker bumblebees can sting. Unlike a honey bee's stinger, a bumblebee's stinger lacks barbs, so it can sting more than once. Bumblebee species are not normally aggressive, but will sting in defence of their nest, or if harmed. Female cuckoo bumblebees will aggressively attack host colony members, and sting the host queen, but will ignore other animals (e.g. humans) unless disturbed.
Read more about this topic: Bumblebee
Famous quotes containing the word sting:
“O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting to thee is a little fault!”
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321)
“I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a single
object, and that no man ever can,
Nature here in sight of the sea taking advantage of me to dart upon me and sting me,
Because I have dared to open my mouth to sing at all.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“Thou thyself hast been a libertine,
As sensual as the brutish sting itself.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)