A common myth is that bees die once they sting human beings. This is partially true as honeybees are indeed insects that are killed once they sting due to their barbed stinger.

Once honeybees sting thick-skinned creatures like humans, the barbed hook gets stuck in the thick skin and the bee’s insides are pulled along with it, unfortunately killing the bee within minutes. However, if they were to sting another creature with a thinner skin, they would live to tell the tale.

The queen honeybee has a different and smoother stinger with a much smaller barb than the worker bee, so it is able to sting you multiple times unharmed. This does not happen often though, as the queen bee tends to stay inside the nest and leaves it up to the worker bees to defend the nest and the queen bee. Solitary bees and social bumblebees are also available to sting multiple times.