Appearances can be deceiving

The gypsy cuckoo bumblebee is a trickster and nest invader

- Ben Hoare

SOME BEES ARE NOT WHAT THEY AT first appear. A cuckoo bumblebee, as its name suggests, takes over the nests of other bumblebees. Using a mix of violence and pheromone inducement, the intruder forces the colony's workers to raise her young instead. The cuckoo has a larger, more powerful sting and usually, though not always, kills