Thus, for a drone bee, those few seconds of mating are the peak of existence. And here are those blissful seconds, captured in slow-motion. The clip is ... More Than Honey: Queen Honeybee Mating ...

Because only one female honey bee in the hive gets to be queen, the other female honey bees are relegated to the status of worker bees. The way this hierarchy shakes out is through phermone exposure.

She points to a nice, thick covering of honey inside. "That's good," she says, pleased with the progress. She also spots her essential queen bee. But there are also a bunch of bees loafing at the ...