Are Bees Accurate In This “The Magic School Bus” Episode?

Are Bees Accurate In This The Magic School Bus Episode?

Summary: The Magic School Bus television show is filled with educational tidbits, and one episode dove into the complex world of honeybee hives. This blog starts by summarizing the key events of the In a Beehive episode, then breaks down the facts and characteristics of the animated honeybees. Each point has a dedicated section that compares the fictional bees to real honeybees to see if the show’s depictions of bees and beehives hold up. There are 9 key points that are discussed, resulting in the conclusion that In a Beehive is true-to-life. Although Pointe Pest Control doesn’t treat for honeybees, the experienced technicians target all kinds of invasive pests.

The perfect piece of children’s educational media is equally educational and entertaining. A show that’s too focused on the information will feel like a homework assignment, but a show that’s mindless entertainment won’t teach its young viewers important facts about the world they live in. One TV show that managed to achieve a perfect balance (in our humble opinion) is The Magic School Bus.

Each of their episodes centers on a scientific subject that Ms. Frizzle and her lively class learn about alongside the viewers. One memorable episode featured a honey accident and a hive of hardworking bees that the class had to help in order to embark on the honey-making process. But does this 90s classic have the facts on honey bees? Let’s find out as we examine the line between fact and fiction in the episode In a Beehive.

A Beehive Bonanza

First of all, it’s important that we summarize the plot of this episode so you get the full scope of what’s happening here. Wanda and Tim are delivering jars of honey for Tim’s grandpa on their bikes when the biggest bee we’ve ever seen flies in their faces. They crash and are perfectly fine, but the honey jars are completely shattered near a sewer grate (of course) where the honey is lost. Tim frantically tells his class that he needs to find more honey now before the first frost sets in that night. After Ms. Frizzle makes her typical dramatic entrance and Phoebe insists they can’t steal from honey bees, the class sets off on their field trip.

The class finds a honey bee hive in a tree and realizes the bees won’t let them get too close, so they need the work of the Magic School Bus to help them once again. They’re all turned into bees with their same human heads — seriously, look it up — and Ms. Frizzle douses them with bee pheromones to fit in. Once they witness the honey-making process, everyone scatters to gather nectar and make their own honey. Liz the lizard accidentally leads a hungry bear back to the hive, who rudely takes the honey for himself while the class watches in horror. They diligently help the colony make even more honey, with plenty to spare for Tim’s grandpa and his excited customers.

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s make a beeline (“Carlos!”) for our analysis of the different facts and events in this episode!

Bees in The Winter

The main problem that Tim faces — besides losing a mountain of honey jars — is that the first frost sets in that night and will prevent bees from making more honey. Honey bees are technically awake in the winter, but they stay dormant and huddled in clusters. They eat the honey that they made for the last 2 weeks before winter while the winter bees keep the colony warm. These bees hatch in the fall and live for about 6 months, keeping the traditional castes alive by shaking their flight muscles and sharing body heat. Bees might take short flights on warm winter days, but they don’t always make it back to the hive.

Beehives in Trees

The class finds a beehive in a hollow tree after following a worker bee to its home. This location is very true-to-life because honey bees keep their hives hidden and protected. Hollow trees and rock crevices are common nesting sites. Contrary to other cartoons, honey bees don’t allow their hives to just dangle from a tree branch like a yard decoration. They keep their homes hidden in neighborhoods, forests, and wooded areas. The hives are made of a mixture of honey and bee saliva to make a tougher material than honey on its own.

Bee Appearance

When Ms. Frizzle hits the conveniently-located “bee” button on the bus’s dashboard, the whole class is turned into bees with their same heads. Besides the human head component, their appearance is pretty accurate to actual bees. Honey bees have dark heads with antennae that are sensitive to most stimuli. These bees have hairy bodies with gold and black stripes, 4 clear wings, and 6 legs. Their colors tell other animals that the bees will sting when threatened. The queen bee is the largest, but we rarely see her because she’s well-protected inside the hive.

Pheromones

Before the class can fly into the buzzing hive, Ms. Frizzle instructs the bus to spray them with a giant perfume bottle of “Eau de Hive” — aka bee pheromones. The scent chemicals tells the worker bees that the class belongs with them, so the students don’t have to worry about being stung. All social insects use pheromones to communicate because it’s the most efficient method for thousands of bugs to use. Honey bees use pheromones to communicate across their castes and tell each other about activities, processes, and changes. When their hive is threatened, workers send out an “alarm” pheromone that instructs the rest to defend their home.

Food-Sharing

Ralphie finds himself face-to-face with a friendly worker bee who sticks her long tongue out at him! Understandably confused, Ralphie asks everyone what to do and Dorothy Ann tells him that the bee is trying to share food with him through her proboscis. Sure enough, real honey bees share food with each other in this exact way. The bee with the honey or nectar in its honey stomach opens its mandibles and gives a drop to a hungry bee, who drinks it with their proboscis (long mouthpart). This process allows the colony to function as a super-organism by helping one another to survive and thrive.

The Honey Process

The children are fascinated by the honey-making process they witness inside the hive, stating their observations of how the workers miraculously turn nectar into honey. The whole process is accurate to real life, so this sequence is a great way for kids and adults alike to learn about how honey is made. First, honey bees bring nectar to the hive and deposit it into the cells, where it becomes a sugar due to the cell’s shape and the fanning from their wings.

Once the water is evaporated, the bee covers the cell with a wax cap to protect it until they need the honey. The color and flavor of honey depends on the flower nectar that was used. Honey also helps honey bees survive the winter by emitting energy and heat. If you’re like Phoebe and wonder how we can humanely take honey from bees, don’t worry: each hive makes 55 extra pounds of honey a year, so there’s plenty for bees and people!

A Bee’s Favorite Flowers

The class fears that they missed all of the good flowers when they can’t find any more nectar for the hive, but Tim saves the day by finding a whole field of goldenrod. This is actually one of the honey bee’s favorite flowers since it gives good nectar and grows in abundance. The types of flowers that bees visit depend on certain factors. Does the bee have a long or a short proboscis? Is the bee big or little? These physical features impact their choice of flowers. Honey bees seem to prefer native flowers, but they can’t see the color red and therefore tend to stay away from red flowers.

The other favorite flowers of honey bees include:

• Asters
• Bee balm
• Black-eyed Susans
• Coneflowers
• Daisies
• Sunflowers
• Verbena
• Zinnias

The Language of Dance

After an entertaining attempt at communicating with the bees through shouting and pointing, Tim learns that honey bees communicate with a special dance. He uses a series of outlined steps to tell the bees about the goldenrod field and manages to point the colony in the right direction. Real honey bees do communicate through a series of dances. There’s even a “dance floor” at the hive’s entrance for workers to quickly tell their colony about a great nectar source!

The “waggle” dance is basically a figure-8 with walking and flapping. The angle of the dance gives a series of directions for the workers to follow. The longer the dance, the farther away the flowers are. A more lively dance shows them that the source is really great. There are two other kinds of dances that we know about. One is the “shake” dance, which bees use to say that they need more workers in the field (literally). The second is the “tremble” dance that bees use to say they need help processing the nectar.

Bears and Honey

At the climax of the episode, Liz accidentally lands the Magic School Bus on a bear’s nose, who isn’t too happy to see a small bus with wings on its snout. The bear follows them back to the hive and claws through the entrance to steal some sweet honeycomb. This is a classic carton stereotype — Winnie the Pooh being the most famous example — but isn’t entirely true. Bears do attack bee hives and steal honey, but that’s not their main target. They love to eat bee eggs, larvae, and pupae since they’re great protein and fat sources. The workers defend their nest and sting the intruders, but bears hardly feel it through their thick fur.

Pointe Pest Control is the Bee’s Knees!

Honeybees are important creatures for the ecosystem, but the other creepy-crawlies we see in our homes and businesses aren’t a welcome presence. At Pointe Pest Control, our experienced technicians are committed to solving each pest issue as efficiently as possible. We begin each service with a full inspection of the property, then use our findings to create a treatment plan that’s customized to target the current pests and prevent future ones. Our team is happy to walk you through every step of the process and answer every question you have along the way. We look forward to solving your pest problems, so contact us today for a free quote!

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Citations

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Bortolotti, L. & Costa, C. Chemical Communication in the Honey Bee Society. In: Mucignat-Caretta C, editor. Neurobiology of Chemical Communication. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press/Taylor & Francis; 2014. Chapter 5. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK200983/ (Accessed April 30, 2024).

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Gee, M. (2023, January 4). Winter bees: How honeybees survive the winter. Gees Bees. Available at https://www.geesbees.ca/post/winter-bees-how-honeybees-survive-the-winter (Accessed on April 30, 2024).

How honey is made. (n.d.). National Honey Board. Retrieved April 30, 2024, from https://honey.com/about-honey/how-honey-is-made

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Sweetster, R. (2023, November 16). Which flowers do bees like best?. Almanac. Available at https://www.almanac.com/best-flowers-bees (Accessed April 30, 2024).

What do bears like to eat in a beehive?. (n.d.). North American Bear Center. Retrieved May 1, 2024, from https://bear.org/bear-facts/what-do-bears-like-to-eat-in-a-beehive/