Great Uncle Fred, do bees hiccup? (Sofia, aged five, Summer 2009)

Do you know what? We hiccup but no one is completely and absolutely sure why we hiccup. Some people think that it is because we used to be frogs but I do not know what you think about that, Sofia. Have you ever been a frog? We hiccup with these parts inside us called the diaphragm and the larynx and the epiglottis and the lungs - all the things which help us breathe and speak and sing - but bees do not have these things. They breathe, I think, through tiny wee holes in their skin and there`s just no way they could hiccup through those tiny wee holes. I think the answer to this question has to be, "No". But bees are great, all the same, don`t you think? I love them and I have loved them ever since I was a tadpole.

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