Posted by Pam Varga on November 7, 2005

Q: On our Nature Walk this morning, our fourth grade class was discussing how different animals survive the cold winter weather here in Pennsylvania. Our question is, how do insects like bees, wasps, and hornets survive the cold winter weather?

Thanks for your help!

Blackhawk Intermediate School Fourth Grade

Mrs. Pam VArga - Science teacher

A: Excellent question - someone's been thinking!!!

Insects have different ways to survive wintertime. Some insects lay eggs that overwinter, some survive winter as larvae, others as pupae, and others as adults. Different kinds of insects have different "strategies" or methods, of making it through the freezing temperatures of winter without dying. Chemical changes in these insect stages of life make it possible for them to live even though it is freezing outside. Chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, just to name a few different birds, look for these different insect stages in the wood, under bark, leaves, and on twigs and branches all winter long to use as food. Without all of these hidden insects, many birds couldn't live in the north during the winter.

Since you asked specifically about bees, wasps, and hornets I'll share a bit about them. The wasps and hornets have a "strategy", or a method to survive the winter that most of us wouldn't like for ourselves. In some species, only the queens live over the wintertime - all of the males and female workers that lived in the summer die each fall. In the spring, the queen is alone and must find a place to build her nest, lay some eggs and then take care of her babies. Once these babies are old enough (all are females) they help their mother the queen by feeding the new babies, enlarging the nest and defending the nest from danger. As summer comes to a close, male babies are produced too and these mate with just a few new queens, the old queen dies, and these new queens then can overwinter and renew the cycle for the next year.

Of course, one rather special insect, the Monarch Butterfly, does migrate to Mexico to avoid wintertime but this is an unusual way for an insect to escape the freezing temperatures of a northern winter. Hope this helps. Feel free to send more questions when you have them.

John Wiessinger ( November 7, 2005)