Last winter, commercial beekeepers lost more than 60% of their colonies – their worst losses on record. We tend to blame bee losses on separate, singular threats: pests, pesticides, habitat loss or extreme weather. But we’ve been thinking about bee losses wrong. The real culprit is our industrial food system. Managed honeybees are in effect […]
Tag: pesticides
A New York Cemetery Was Hiding Over 5 Million Burrowing Bees, One of the World’s Largest Concentrations
At roughly 5.5 million, a colony of ground-nesting bees that scientists discovered under a New York cemetery may be one of the largest bee aggregations ever documented. Subsequent research showed that the bees have likely lived there for more than 100 years, thriving in the cemetery’s undisturbed sandy soil—an incredible discovery. Rachel Fordyce used to […]
Bald Ibis ‘the Herald of Spring’ Saved from Extinction in Turkey Thanks to Semi-Wild Breeding
Towering above the crystal clear waters of the Euphrates River, sandstone cliffs have for thousands of years played host to the bald ibis, returning from Ethiopia during the spring migration. But when modern dangers upset this delicate age-old balance, a coalition of local wildlife enthusiasts and international conservation efforts rescued this majestic bird from the […]
Say no to pesticides, mix up your lawn – and six more ways to help bees to thrive
We know about honeybees and bumblebees, but most of the UK’s bees are neither: they’re solitary bees, loners who come in a dizzying range of sizes, colours and varieties – more than 240 species. Have you heard, for instance, of the hairy-footed flower bee? “They’re one of the first bees to emerge each year,” says Laura […]
Peregrine falcons retain trade protections, despite downlisting bid by Canada and US
The U.S. and Canada have failed in their bid to loosen restrictions on the international trade in peregrine falcons, with delegates to CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, voting against it at an summit underway in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The two countries had submitted a joint proposal to move peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) from CITES Appendix […]
Wild Pigs Found With Stained Blue Meat From Poisoning
A shocking discovery in California has revealed wild pigs with neon blue flesh, a sign they ingested rodent poison that raises serious risks for wildlife and human health. According to reporting by ScienceAlert, tests by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the presence of the anticoagulant rodenticide Diphacinone in several feral pigs and […]
Social Media Could Boost Wildlife Conservation Efforts for Small Mammal Species, Experts Say
Photos of wildlife on social media have the power to boost conservation by depicting predators not only as beautiful, but as similar to domestic pets. A new study has found that, through their millions of followers, Instagram and Facebook can steer public engagement and awareness toward support for predators like wildcats, who are sometimes shot […]
Birds Start to Show Signs of Recovery After Bee-Harming Pesticide Ban in the EU
The first large-scale study to investigate the impact on bird populations from the 2018 European Union ban on a universal insecticide has determined that birds have recovered as much as 3% since 2018. Given that 57 species of birds were included in the survey, the 3% rise suddenly seems a lot more meaningful, and the […]