A leader in the hive: The queen bee

There is an astonishing order in every stage of the social life of
bees, with their many miraculous characteristics. The rules in the bee
hives and bees' scrupulous implementation of theserules is just one of
these miraculous features. In addition to the rules in the hive, there
is another important factor that regulates andsupervises the order in
their social life: the bees'leader, in other words the queen.
It can be seen from a short examination of thebee hive that the
workerbees devote very special attention to one bee much larger than
themselves. This bee, thefeeding, cleaning, and protection of which,
as well as all its other needs, are taken care of by other bees, is
the queen, who ensures the continuity of the colony.
The Queen: A Very Different Bee
The number of worker bees in a hive may be in the tens of thousands,
though there is only onequeen. The presence of the queen is of vital
importance for the bees,because it is she who lays the eggs that
ensurethe survival of the colony. The privileged status of the queen
begins right from the larva stage. Queens are raised in places with
different features to those of other cells. This place where the queen
is reared consists of specially prepared cells that hang down from the
comb. Since the queen is larger in size than the other bees, it is
natural that these cells should be built to be larger than other
cells. (1)
The miraculous point here is that the egg that produces the queen is
no different to those that produce worker bees.
Due to feeding differences, during the six-day larva stage, a queen
bee with a very different appearance and functions to those ofa normal
female bee emerges. Worker bees are only given royal jelly for three
days, whereas the queen is fed with this very valuable substance
throughout the entire larval period (six days). (2) The content and
amount of the royal jelly fed to the queen are carefully regulated.
Research has shown thatwhile the queen is given10 mg of royal jelly
throughout the larval stage, worker bees are only given 3 mg. Two
living things, the queen bee and the worker bee,with various
morphological (structural) differences between them emerge as a result
of this feeding difference alone. (3)
Differences between the Queen and Other Bees
The queen differs from other bees in general structure and external
appearance. For example, although the worker bees are female, so is
the queen. Their ovaries do not develop; in other words, they are
sterile. A queen's head and thorax (body section) are not much larger
than those of worker bees. In total contrast to worker bees, the
queen's jaw lacks the appropriate structure for building wax cells.
The queen alsolacks the tough hairs that constitute the workers'
pollen sacs. Oneof the important differences is that, although the
queen emerges from an identical egg, she has a life span of four to
five years rather than the five to six weeks, (a few months in those
around in the winter), of workerbees. This is again solely due to
feeding differences.
These are just a few examples of the general differences between the
queen and other bees. One point worthy of note here is that female
bees emerge as queens or workers solely on the basis of nutritional
differences.
How Does the Queen Regulate the Gender of Other Bees?
One of the most extraordinary attributes of the queen bee is her
ability to regulate the genders of the bees in the hive. The queen
regulates gender by opening and closing the mouth of the sac in which
sperm are preserved. This sac is connected to the egg laying tube by a
thin channel. When the queen wishes to lay a female egg she
contractsher muscles, drawing a few sperm from the small sac connected
to the egg passage channel, and these fertilise the egg there. Asa
result of this function given to the queen, female bees hatch from
fertilized eggs and malesfrom non-fertilised ones. (4) Despite the
queen bee's regulation of the eggs, it is actually the workers who
determine the egg's gender. Because the egg-laying performed by the
queen is carried out in accordance with the cell type prepared by the
workers. If the cell the queen approaches is a 5.2 mm standard cell,
shewill lay a female egg, whereas if it is 1 mm larger, she will lay a
male egg in it. (5)
Queen Bees Behave under Allah's Inspiration
All of the details in the lives of queen bees we have examined so far
reveal the existence of exceedingly conscious behaviour, a perfect
social order, and of designs appropriate to that order. The
organismreferred to as the queen bee is actually an entity just a few
centimetres inlength with a brain consisting of very simplesynapses.
How is it possible for this animal to comprehend why the cells will be
constructed and to lay the appropriate egg withoutconfusing them,
throughits own will and intelligence?
From the moment she hatches to the moment she leaves the hive, the
queen bee knows exactly what she has to do. In the verse, " Your Lord
revealed to the bees …" (Surat An-Nahl, 68), Allah reveals that all
the animal's actions and the conscious behaviour it displays take
place under His inspiration. As with all other living things, Almighty
Allah has created queen bees with bodily systems that are completely
appropriate to the lives they lead. He is the Creator of all. In one
verse from the Qur'an, our Lord reveals: Is He who creates like him
who does not create? So will you not pay heed? (Surat An-Nahl, 17)
The Queen's Authority Substance
Worker bees do not construct queen cells under normal conditions. The
presenceof the queen in the hive prevents this. This only changes
under exceptional circumstances. It will be useful here to examine the
secretion known as queen's substance, in order to understand for what
reason workers feel the need to construct a queen cell when they
already have a queen at their head. It is this substance that ensures
discipline in the hive. For that reason, if all the functions in the
hive are to be fully carried out, the queen has to secrete enough ofit
every day to go around all the bees in the hive. This has been
calculated as an average of 0.1 mg per bee. (6)
Any reduction in this substance sets the worker bees in action. That
is because a reduction in the royal secretion is regarded as a sign
either that the queen is aging or that the colony is too large. In
either case, there are certain steps the workers have to take. (7) It
is the substance secreted by the queen which prevents the workers from
raising a new queen. In the event of a drop in this substance, the
workers immediately begin constructing new queen cells. Immediately
after the queen lays an egg in these cells, the workers go into action
to rear new queens. When conditions suddenly alter and the danger of
the colony being left without a queen raises its head they begin
feeding some of the already existing larvae on royal jelly and tearing
down other cells around. (8)
REFERENCES:
1. Thomas A. Sebeok, Animal Communication, Indiana Univ. Press, London; p. 437
2. Compton's Pictured Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2, Compton &Comp. Chicago,
USA, 1961, p.106
3. Prof. Ali Demirsoy, The Fundamental Laws of Life,
Invertebrates/Insects, Entomology Vol. II / Part-II, Ankara; p. 212
4. Prof. Karl von Frisch, The Life of Bees, p. 55-56
5. Prof. Karl von Frisch, Aus Dem Leben Der Bienen, Verständliche
Wissenschaft Band 1, 8.Auflage, p. 57
6. Edward O. Wilson, The Insect Societies, Harvard Unv. Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972,p. 96
7. Mark L. Winston, The Biology of the Honey Bee, Harvard Univ.
Press, 1991, p.130
8. Murray Hoyt, The World of Bees, Coward Mcnann Inc, New York, 1965; p. 40