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eliochel

Are honey bees cold-blooded or warm blooded?

Individual bees are cold blooded. At about 42 degrees F, bees can't move because their muscles are not warm enough, per The Beekeeper's Handbook, 5th ed., 2021, Diana Sammataro & Alphonse Avitabile.

However, the colony as a whole is a warm-blooded superorganism. Bees in winter cluster can keep the queen at 68-70 degrees F in subzero temperatures and when the colony starts to raise brood at the end of winter, the colony must keep its core temperature around the brood at 90-94 degrees F no matter how cold the ambient temperature.

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