Queen bees promiscuous for descendants

Looking for many males to mate, honey lords take much effort and time. In addition, it puts her at risk of prey to others and some diseases. But all those dangers don't stop bees.

To have a healthy baby, the queen bee must mate with a lot of males, a recent study showed. Although only one sperm is needed, the queen bee usually mate with at least 10 males or more.

Biologist Thomas Seeley of Cornell University (USA) and entomologist David Tarpy of the University of North Carolina (USA) discovered that bees are produced by many males equipped with many genes to fight the disease. more handicapped.

"Bees need to produce descendants that are genetically different. Genetic diversity is a factor that helps many bees to be more resistant to disease than the one-man herd , " Seeley said. expression.

Viet Linh