Despite steps by the European Union to limit the use of poisons responsible for widespread insect losses, the US Environmental Protection Agency is prepared to allow the use of four of the most harmful compounds to bees, butterflies, and other insects in America for the next 15 years. Despite “ecological hazards of concern, notably to […]
Tag: honeybee

Bees kill 63 endangered penguins in South Africa
A swarm of bees has killed 63 endangered African penguins on a beach outside Cape Town, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds said. The protected birds were found dead in Simon’s Town, a small town near Cape Town home to a colony of penguins, and taken for post-mortems. “After tests, we […]

Wild Animals Such as Chimpanzees and Honeybees Also Practice Social Distancing to Prevent the Spread of Disease
In a world with over 7 billion people and cities with populations of millions of people, we are so accustomed to being surrounded by our communities and other people that the idea of social distancing seems very novel. And it sort of is… for humans. In this most recent age of technology and development, we’ve […]

Half a billion bees dead as Brazil approves hundreds more pesticides
Last century, Albert Einstein predicted that if bees disappeared off the face of the Earth, humans would only have four years left to live. The death of these insects on a large scale, seen as apocalyptic at the time, now constitutes a real warning for humanity. Between December 2018 and February 2019, more than 500 […]

POLL: Should the bee-harming pesticide ban be expanded?
Europe should expand a ban on bee-harming pesticides in light of a new report warning of widespread risks to agriculture and the environment, Greenpeace has said. The report by biologists at the University of Sussex and commissioned by Greenpeace, concluded that the threat posed to bees by neonicotinoid pesticides was greater than perceived in 2013 […]

The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees | Book Review
Every year, somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of all worker honeybees disappear from their hives, never to be seen again, leaving their developing young to die and their queens untended. This disturbing phenomenon, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), was first identified in the United States, but it is happening all around the world. […]

Third of all honeybee colonies in England did not survive winter
More than a third of all honeybee colonies in England died over the winter, according to figures from the British Beekeepers Association, the worst losses since its winter survival survey began. On average, 33.8 colonies in every 100 perished over the long winter of 2012-13 compared with 16.2% the previous winter. In the south-west of […]

Bee on Fire
This bee is on fire, making one last attempt to change a breeze’s direction, castaway seeds struggling to keep up. • Honey bee | Apis mellifera