• CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Drones die after mating, as the act of mating kills them. It’s not the hive rejecting them.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(bee)

    The process of ejaculation is explosive—semen is blasted through the queen’s sting chamber and into the oviduct. The process is sometimes audible to the human ear, akin to a “popping” sound. The ejaculation is so powerful that it ruptures the endophallus, disconnecting the drone from the queen. The bulb of the endophallus is broken off inside of the queen during mating—so drones mate only once, and die shortly after.