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Their main function in the hive is to be ready to fertilize a receptive queen. Mating occurs in flight, which accounts for the need of the drones for better vision, which is provided by their big eyes. Although heavy bodied, drones have to be able to fly fast enough to catch up with the queen in flight. Should a drone succeed in mating it will soon die because the reproductive organ and associated abdominal tissues are ripped from the drone's body as copulation occurs. After the queen is fertilized, drones are no longer accepted by the hive and soon starve.

Drones never exhibit other typical worker bee behaviors -- such as nectar and pollen gathering, nursing, hive construction, etc. Since the bee's stinger is a modified ovipositor (an egg laying organ), the drone is defenceless and can not defend the hive. This has led the drone to be considered as a cannonacal example of a worthless member of a society. Althogh the drone is highly specialized to one function, mating and continueing the propagation of the hive, it is not completely without side benefit to the hive. All bees, when they sense the hives temperature deviating from proper limits, either generate heat by shivering, or exhaust heat by moving air with their wings -- behaviors which drones do share with worker bees.