When a honeybee stings, it dies a gruesome death. ... As the honeybee tries to pull out the stinger, it ruptures its lower abdomen, leaving the stinger embedded, pulling out instead a string of digestive material, muscles, glands and a venom sac.

Do bees know they die when they sting?

It's unlikely the bee could know ahead of time that stinging some enemies is fatal. While a bee may not know that it'll die after stinging, it is willing to fight to the death. The strange thing about worker bees is that they are more related to their sisters than their children.

Can bees sometimes survive after stinging?

The short answer is: No, of the bees capable of stinging, only honey bees die after stinging, due to the sting becoming lodged into human skin, thus injuring the bee as it tries to fly away. Other species, such as bumble bees, can sting repeatedly without dying. However, it should be noted that not all bees sting.