Whale Bee

Whale bees are a species of megafauna found roaming the skies of Cilvarth, a common sight in the two continents.

Anatomy

Whale bees are not technically insects for just one reason; they have 4 major body parts. While they do have a head, body and abdomen, between the head they also have a float sac. As these animals are too heavy for them to lift themselves into the air, they will expand this large, bulbous portion of themselves and they will float upwards, and then use their two pairs of long wings to glide for as long as they can. They do possess legs, which help them crawl along the ground, carrying their heavy bodies on giant flowers. Worker and Queen whale bees have a sharp stinger on the ends of the abdomens, used for defence if they are ever threatened.

Habitat and Geographic Distribution

Whale bees are found across the two continents on Cilvarth, in Aurea and Jisefea. They are more common towards the Whispering Woods, where giant flowers that support their weight are found.
These giant insects never stray too far from their food source, which resides in giant flowers. They are very common in the south of Aurea, and the north of Jisefea.

Diet

Whale bees, like regular honeybees, feed on the pollen found in flowers. These flowers are usually of the giant variety, found all over the planet. Because of the amount of pollen whale bees collect, pollination is consistently high and giant flowers grow literally everywhere.

Hives

Whale bees live in massive hives built on the giant trees of Cilvarth. Whale bees will create enormous hives made of propolis and honeycomb. These hives are complex, and take over entire trees. In some cases, the trees themselves are entirely swallowed up by the beehives.

Noise Pollution

Whale bees flap their wings about 12,000 times a minute, since gliding is not enough to keep these magnificent beasts in the air. This level of noise is deafeningly loud, and in large swarms they scare off any life in the area. Luckily, when they do harvest their pollen they aren't flying, and they fly relatively high in the area, but still from the ground they can be heard miles away.
Nobody is really sure if there is a solution to this problem; the lack of biodiversity in areas whale bees frequent is causing serious issues. Special headware are worn by those in rural areas where whale bees are more common to prevent long-term hearing damage, but there is no solution to stop the noise itself, and it is unlikely there ever will be one.

Hive System

Queen

The Queen whale bee is the largest of all whale bees, and are almost twice the size of a regular whale bee, around 35 metres long. The Queen is made by feeding a regular larva with royal jelly, made by the workers. These contain special nutrients that aren't fed to other larva, which will allow the Queen to grow much larger. Queens have a float sac, but only need to leave the hive to mate in the air or if the colony swarms.

Worker

Worker bees are an important role in whale bee society. Worker bees have many jobs, like cleaning, feeding larva, collecting pollen, creating honey. Workers are the smallest of the whale bees, as they are fed only the basic nutrients needed to grow into an adult.

Drone

Drone bees are the second rarest whale bee role, after the Queen which is limited to one per hive at any one time. Drone bees cannot sting, they possess no float sac either, and they cannot make honey. Their only purpose is to mate with the Queen, which only mates once in her lifetime, meaning most drones are absolutely pointless. They are only kept around in case of an emergency and a Queen needs to mate.

Lifespan

200 - 250 years

Average Length

20 metres

Geographic Distribution

• Cilvarth
• Whispering Woods

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