Cory Raab, age 10, of McAllen, Texas, for his question:

DOES THE BUMBLEBEE LIVE ANYWHERE?

Bumblebee is the common name for any of the large, hairy, usually black and gold social insects that are in the same family with the wasp. The bumblebee can be found almost anywhere in the world. It ranges farther poleward and higher up on the mountains than any other bee species.

The bumblebee's ability to live almost anywhere is made possible by special body adaptations to cooler weather that keep the flight muscles sufficiently warm, as well as protecting the developing larvae within a colony. Bumblebees also forage for longer hours than do other bees.

Bumblebee colonies are less complex than those of honeybees and are populated by three castes: queens, sterile female workers and male drones. The workers vary in size, each becoming habituated by visiting flowers suited to the length of its tongue, and both queens and workers bear pollen baskets on their hind legs.

Pregnant young queens leave their parent colony to find new ones, building nests of vegetable material in abandoned holes such as mouse burrows.

No complex language has been developed by bumblebees comparable to that observed in honeybee hives.