Sisterly Bonds

Because of bees’ unusual genetics in which males arise from unfertilized eggs containing one set of chromosomes and females from fertilized eggs with twice the chromosomes, sisters are more closely related to each other (seventy-five percent shared genetic code) than mother to daughter (fifty percent), and thus predisposed to higher degrees of altruism. In layman’s terms? Sisters are innately programmed to selflessly serve one another.

The Haplodiploidy Hypothesis