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submitted 2 days ago by RNAi@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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[-] Dessa@hexbear.net 17 points 2 days ago

A bee sting is agonizing enough at bug size. I can't imagine what a cat sized dose of stinger venom would feel like. Might even be deadly.

And if I was friendly with the bee, I wouldn't fear it stinging me aggressively at all because it kills them too, but I'd be terrified of an accidental sting.

Now a cat-sized wasp, that's another scenario I don't like to think about

[-] axont@hexbear.net 7 points 2 days ago

I remember reading something somewhere about how a bee sting is about 0.5% the venom of a rattlesnake bite

[-] GiorgioBoymoder@hexbear.net 13 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

if a bee were magically scaled up to the size of a cat, let's say 20x, the volume of venom delivered would increase by a factor of 20^3, so it would be 20^3 * 0.5% = 4000% the venom of a rattlesnake bite eviscerated

[-] KobaCumTribute@hexbear.net 7 points 2 days ago

At cat size, the bee wouldn't have the problem of its stinger getting lodged in human skin and being unable to safely free itself, but if we're envisioning a bee that just naturally wound up that big I would honestly think its stinger would end up being vestigial since it could just bite the kinds of things its stinger is for and anything bigger would have to contend with swarms of cat-sized bees doing the thing small birds do to chase off predators where they just make it fuck off by buzzing it repeatedly. A dozen of these giant bees dive bombing and circling around would probably be enough to drive off even a bear.

[-] Dessa@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago

If we're working evolution into this, I don't see a cat-sized bee surviving with all the innards sloshing around in a too-big exoskeleton. Tarantulas are already dangerously fragile with main bodies half the size if a mouse.