Why a Bee’s Sting Is the Most Beautiful Sacrifice A single sting. A final act of protection. When a honeybee defends her colony, she gives her life, tearing away part of her own body to protect the hive. Even after death, her stinger keeps working, injecting venom and signaling others to attack the same threat. Inside that one drop of venom lies melittin, a powerful protein designed by evolution to defend an entire civilization of bees. Every barb, every pulse, every sacrifice follows a perfect