1st place in Derby #253: Insects, Bugs, & Arachnids (But Not Worms, Because Gross), with 701 votes!

Honeybees use the power of cooperation to dominate the freak-you-out-by-accidentally-hitting-one-with-your-hand-while-jogging ecological niche.

For the most part, nature is a dog-eat-dog world of individual competition. Because selection favors those organisms that are able to out-compete their peers, evolution tends to favor selfishness over its opposite. Honeybees, however, stand as a lesson in the power of cooperation in solving large-scale problems such as terrifying human exercisers.

Part of this story comes down to genetic relatedness. All worker bees in a hive are sisters, and share 3/4 of their genetic material with each other (rather than 1/2, as in most organisms). This means that if an individual bee sacrifices herself by, say, stinging a jogger who was just trying to take a shortcut through the brambles, she reduces her own fitness but increases that of the hive overall by protecting it.

This type of cooperation has also allowed the world's many species of ants to rule the important get-into-your-bag-of-Gardetto's-while-your-back-was-turned-for-just-a-second niche. But the ants know that their day is nigh. NIGH!

Wear this shirt: in a pinch if you can't find a bee beard.

Don't wear this shirt: around anyone who is allergic or they might go all "My Girl" on ya.

This shirt tells the world: "I live in apartment 4-BEE. GET IT?"

We call this color: I got stung in the asphalt

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