The Bee, Fibonacci, and Genealogy

The Bee, Fibonacci and Genealogy -By Ellen Hetland Fenwick.

Bees are strange creatures. There are three “sexes” of bees…

Drone: Male born of a Queen. No male parent. Not sterile.

Queen: Female born of a Queen & a Drone. Fed Royal Jelly. Not Sterile.

Worker: Female born of a Queen & a Drone. Not fed Royal Jelly. Sterile.

This makes for a most unusual genealogy. Let’s examine the first six generations.

Gen 0: Our Male: Drone
Gen 1: His parent: Queen
Gen 2: Her Parents: Queen, Drone
Gen 3: Their parents: Queen, Drone, Queen
Gen 4: Their parents: Queen, Drone, Queen, Queen, Drone
Gen 5: Their Parents: Queen, Drone, Queen, Queen, Drone, Queen, Drone, Queen

The total number of individuals in our male bee’s line for each generation is shown below:

But the total numbers so far are just another representation of the Fibonacci sequence where at any generation the total number in the drone’s line is just the sum of the previous two.

Perhaps you will pardon me if I quote a verse that comes to mind.

The bee he is a hardy soul.
He doesn’t believe in birth control.
And that is why in times like these
There are so many sons of bees.

-Ellen Hetland Fenwick

Note: You might also enjoy Fibonacci Numbers: In Math

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