04th
September 2012
Females
of the Wild- Things You Won’t Believe
Merissa Stephen
A
Queen Bee
The queen bee is said to be most significant
to the survival of a honey beehive. What exactly
is her role you may ask? She can lay about 2,000
eggs per day during the spring build-up if well-mated
and well-fed. The queen’s sole function
is to serve as the reproducer. Mating for a
young queen bee occurs in flight. She flies
out on a sunny, warm day to a “drone congregation
area” where she will mate with about twelve
to fifteen drones. The young queen stores up
to 6 million sperm from multiple drones and
for the remaining two to seven years of her
life, she selectively releases sperm.
If she remains unmated, due to an inability
to fly out and mate, whether due to bad weather
or otherwise, she becomes a “drone layer.”
This usually signifies the death of the colony
as no fertilized (female) larvae will be available
to raise worker bees or replace the queen.
The
Female Mosquito
The lifespan of the female mosquito is normally
much longer than that of the male states tinymosquito.com.
It is said that in her natural environment,
the female mosquito can live for as long as
one to two weeks, as compared to the male, which
would usually live for approximately one week.
Depending on the correct level of humidity,
proper temperature, and sustainable nourishment,
the female can even live for as long as one
month, a feat that not even the male can match
despite ideal environmental and nutritional
conditions.
*Fun
fact- Do both Genders Suck Blood? No.
Male mosquitoes survive by feeding on flower
nectar and sweet juices. Female mosquitoes not
only feed on various sugars for energy, but
also require the nutrition of blood for the
development of their eggs.- tinymosquito.com
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