Though most bees fill their days visiting flowers and collecting pollen, some bees take advantage of the hard work of others. These thieving bees sneak into the nest of an ① unsuspecting “normal” bee (known as the host), lay an egg near the pollen mass being gathered by the host bee for her own offspring, and then sneak back out. When the egg of the thief hatches, it kills the host’s offspring and then eats the pollen meant for ② its victim. Sometimes called brood parasites, these bees are also referred to as cuckoo bees, because they are similar to cuckoo birds, which lay an egg in the nest of another bird and ③ leaves it for that bird to raise. They are more ④ technically called cleptoparasites. Clepto means “thief” in Greek, and the term cleptoparasite refers specifically to an organism ⑤ that lives off another by stealing its food. In this case the cleptoparasite feeds on the host’s hard-earned pollen stores.
* brood parasite: (알을 대신 기르도록 하는) 탁란 동물