Do big bumble bees sting?

Even though they are capable of it, most bees do not sting unless provoked. The female bees of both social and solitary species are able to sting when threatened. Male bees do not have stingers. Bumble bees, Bombus spp., are ground-nesting bees and have smaller hives than honey bees. They gather pollen, but they do not produce honey. read more

Female bumblebees can sting repeatedly, but generally ignore humans and other animals. Cuckoo bumblebees do not make nests; their queens aggressively invade the nests of other bumblebee species, kill the resident queens and then lay their own eggs, which are cared for by the resident workers. read more

If bumblebees DO ever sting, their sting has no barb like the honeybee, so they do not die afterwards. Male bumblebees do not have a sting. You can identify the males of some species quite easily by their pale yellow facial hair and little yellow moustaches. read more