Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Scientists found something surprising in an old cave. Long ago, tiny bees built nests inside the empty tooth holes of animal bones.
The cave is on an island called Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea. The bones are about 20,000 years old.
Owls used to live in the cave. They ate small animals and spit up bones onto the cave floor. Later, bees found the bones and used the tooth holes as tiny homes.
In one jaw, scientists found six little nests stacked inside a single tooth hole. Each nest even had pollen, food for baby bees. Nobody had ever seen bees do this before.
- cave
- a large natural hole in rock, often underground
- fossil
- the preserved remains of a very old plant or animal
- jaw
- the bone that holds the teeth
- socket (tooth)
- the hole in a jawbone where a tooth sits
- nest
- a place an animal builds to lay eggs or raise young
- pollen
- tiny yellow grains made by flowers that bees collect
- owl
- a bird that hunts at night and eats small animals
- survival
- staying alive, especially in a difficult situation
Level 2 — Elementary
Paleontologists have discovered the first known evidence that ancient bees built nests inside the empty tooth sockets of mammal bones, a behavior never recorded before in fossils. The discovery comes from a limestone cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, where the bones are estimated to be around 20,000 years old.
The cave was once home to generations of owls, which regularly coughed up pellets containing the bones of the small animals they had eaten. Over time, these pellets built up a large hoard of fossilized bones on the cave floor, including remains from now-extinct species.
Small bees later discovered the discarded bones and found the empty tooth sockets to be perfect, protected spaces for building nests. In one particularly striking example, a jawbone from an extinct rodent called a hutia contained a single tooth socket with six nesting chambers stacked one inside the other, like a tiny apartment building.
Some of the nests still contained grains of ancient pollen, sealed in by the mother bees as food for their developing young. Researchers believe that nesting inside bones may have helped protect the bees' eggs from predators such as wasps. The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
- paleontologist
- a scientist who studies fossils and ancient life
- limestone
- a type of rock often found in caves, formed from ancient sea life
- pellet (owl)
- a small mass of undigested bones and fur coughed up by an owl
- hoard
- a large stored collection of something
- extinct
- no longer existing; a species that has died out completely
- rodent
- a small mammal with front teeth used for gnawing, like a mouse or rat
- chamber
- an enclosed space or compartment
- predator
- an animal that hunts and eats other animals
Level 3 — Intermediate
Paleontologists have documented the first known instance of ancient bees nesting inside the empty tooth sockets of vertebrate fossils, a previously unrecorded survival strategy detailed in a study published in Royal Society Open Science. The discovery originates from a limestone cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, where the fossilized bones are estimated to be approximately 20,000 years old.
Over many generations, owls roosting in the cave regularly regurgitated pellets containing the skeletal remains of small prey animals, gradually accumulating a substantial hoard of bones on the cave floor, some belonging to species that have since gone extinct. This accumulation of discarded, weathered bone created an unexpected micro-habitat that small solitary bees later exploited for nesting.
In one particularly striking specimen, a jawbone belonging to an extinct hutia, a large Caribbean rodent, contained a single tooth socket housing six nesting chambers stacked sequentially, one nested inside the previous one. The structure and composition of the chamber walls closely resembled the mud partitions built by certain bee species in more conventional nesting sites today, and several chambers still contained grains of fossilized pollen sealed in by the mother bees to provision their developing larvae.
Researchers hypothesize that nesting within the protective confines of bone sockets may have offered the bees enhanced protection from natural enemies, such as parasitic wasps, that commonly prey on bee larvae in more exposed nesting locations. The find not only documents a novel ecological interaction between insects and vertebrate remains, but also illustrates how fossil deposits can preserve unexpected traces of behavior far removed from the animal that originally left the bone behind.
- vertebrate
- an animal with a backbone, such as a mammal, bird, or reptile
- regurgitate
- to bring back up partially digested material
- micro-habitat
- a small, specific environment suited to a particular set of organisms
- solitary (bee)
- living or nesting alone rather than in a large colony
- provision (biology)
- to supply an offspring's nest with food before it hatches
- larva
- the immature, wingless stage of an insect before it becomes an adult
- parasitic
- living on or in another organism at its expense
- ecological interaction
- a relationship between different living organisms and their environment
Level 4 — Advanced
Paleontologists have documented the first known instance of ancient bees nesting within the empty tooth sockets of vertebrate fossils, an unrecorded survival strategy detailed in a study published in Royal Society Open Science. The discovery originates from a limestone cave on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, where the fossilized skeletal material is estimated to date to approximately 20,000 years before present.
Across many generations, owls roosting within the cave regularly regurgitated pellets containing the skeletal remains of small prey taxa, progressively accumulating a substantial taphonomic assemblage of bone on the cave floor, a portion of which derives from species that have since gone extinct. This gradual accumulation of weathered, discarded bone inadvertently generated a novel micro-habitat that small solitary bees subsequently exploited as nesting substrate.
In one particularly striking specimen, a mandible belonging to an extinct hutia, a large-bodied Caribbean caviomorph rodent, preserved a single tooth socket housing six nesting chambers arranged in sequential, telescoping fashion, each nested within the preceding one. The morphology and compositional structure of the chamber partitions closely parallel the mud-lined cell architecture constructed by extant bee species in more conventional substrates, and several chambers retained grains of fossilized pollen, provisioned by maternal bees to sustain developing larvae through metamorphosis.
Researchers hypothesize that nesting within the confined, protective geometry of bone sockets may have conferred enhanced defense against natural enemies, notably parasitoid wasps, that commonly exploit bee larvae in more exposed nesting contexts. Beyond documenting a previously unrecognized ecological interaction between insects and vertebrate skeletal remains, the find underscores how taphonomic deposits can inadvertently preserve unexpected behavioral traces originating from organisms entirely unrelated to the animal whose remains ultimately hosted them.
- taphonomic
- relating to the processes by which organic remains become fossilized and preserved
- assemblage (fossil)
- a collection of fossils found together in a single deposit
- substrate
- the surface or material on which an organism lives or grows
- mandible
- the lower jawbone
- caviomorph
- belonging to a group of South American and Caribbean rodents that includes guinea pigs and their relatives
- telescoping
- arranged so that each part fits or nests within the one before it
- metamorphosis
- the biological process of transformation from larva to adult form
- parasitoid
- an organism that lives on or in a host and ultimately kills it, unlike a true parasite
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