Bumble Bee Facts for Kids

A Picture of a Bumble Bee
  • Common Name: Bumble Bee
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Order: Hymenoptera
  • Family: Apidae
  • Genus: Bombus

15 Bumble Bee Facts for Kids

  1. Bumble bee is a generic name to describe bee species that are members of the genus Bombus.
  2. There are over 250 bee species that are considered bumble bees.
  3. They generic name for a bumble bee is sometimes spelled as bumblebee, bumble-bee or humble-bee.
  4. Most bumble bee species are social insects that live together in a colony.
  5. Bumble bee colonies usually only have one queen.
  6. A bumble bee colony on average will have between 50 and 400 bees living together.
  7. Bumble bees can cool off their nests, workers will stand by the entrance of a nest and flap their wings to remove hot air.
  8. It’s estimated that a bumble bee can flap its wings about 200 times a second.
  9. Adult bumble bees are herbivores, they feed on pollen and nectar from flowers. The queen and brood (young and undeveloped bumble bees) feed on honey produced by adult bumble bees.
  10. Bumble bees create honey by chewing on pollen and mixing it with their saliva.
  11. Bumble bees play a very important role in our ecosystem. They are important pollinators for both human crops and many different types of wildflowers.
  12. A bumble bee can sting, and unlike honey bees, their stinger doesn’t have any barbs. A bumble bee can sting repeatedly and doesn’t leave its stinger in the wound.
  13. The bumble bee species Bombus dahlbomii is the largest species of living bumble bees. A mature queen can reach a length of 1.6 inches.
  14. The cuckoo bumble bee (subgenus Psithyrus) doesn’t make its own nest. Instead, they invade the nest of other bumble bee species. They will kill the queen of the invaded nest and lay its own eggs, which are cared for by the workers of the invaded nest.
  15. There are many species of bumble bees that are listed as endangered by the IUCN. There are some species of bumble bees that have recently gone extinct for unknown reasons.

Additional Resources with Bumble Bee Facts

  • Bumble Bee Facts – Discover more fun facts about bumble bees on the LiveScience website.
  • About Bumble Bees – Learn more about bumble bees on the University of Minnesota website.
  • Bumble Bee Watch – A fun website that lets you track and report sightings of bumble bees.