Beekeeping

Bumblebees are fuzzy, rotund, and indisputably adorable. They’re also secretly swole. The insects can cart around loads up to 80% of their body weight during foraging flights, and new research demonstrates that doing so probably isn’t easy. Get Ready For Another Summer of Invasive Lanternflies | Extreme EarthThe heavier a bumblebees’ pollen haul, the hotter a bee’s body temperature is likely to get, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Biology Letters. As with most other animals, there’s a ceiling on how…

Members of a honey bee colony in Cuba.Photo: YAMIL LAGE/AFP (Getty Images)In the 1970s, laboratory honey bees generally lived for over a month. But now, according to new research published in Scientific Reports, lab-kept bees only live about two weeks.The halving of the insects’ lifespan (from 34.3 days in the 1970s to 17.7 days in the 2010s) is just the latest worrying sign for a species that plays a crucial role in our environment. Honey bees have suffered huge population losses in recent years.The recent findings came…

It never stood a chance. Photo: Koen Van Weel (Getty Images)First, it came for the crypto shills and startups and then, the Silicon Valley legacy brands. Now, the dreaded 2022 tech layoffs are sinking their talons into birds. No, not that bird. We’re talking about drone-killing eagles.After a five year trial, Geneva police announced this week they would end their so-called, anti-drone “eagle brigade,” due to uncertain effectiveness and concerns for the animals’ safety. Now, the program’s two raptors, reportedly named…

Photo: Said Khatib (Getty Images)An unfortunate group of Longmeadow, Massachusetts police clearly didn’t get the message about minding their own beeswax.A local woman named Rorie S. Woods allegedly tried to stop the the sheriffs’ from serving an eviction notice this week by unleashing a swarm of angry bees on them, according to the Associated Press. At least three of the officers stung were reportedly allergic to bees, one of which required hospitalization. Now, the woman reportedly faces multiple assault and battery…

IBM, Google and other corporations are dedicating budget lines to saving Colorado’s bee population, with hives at their in-state locations, in a business move that supports a critical part of the nation’s food-production system. The number of honeybee hives in the U.S. has dwindled to around 2.5 million last year from 6 million in the 1940s, the Agriculture Department reported. As the state with the fifth-most bee diversity in the nation, Colorado is home to around 950 bee species, which put in work to pollinate both…

A yellow-faced bumble bee, or Bombus vosnesenskii.Photo: K E Magoon (Shutterstock)Some of California’s most crucial insects seem to have gone missing. A new study suggests that populations of once-abundant bumble bee species in California may have experienced serious decline, after researchers conducted the first statewide survey of bumble bee species in 40 years.01:57Rainn Wilson’s First Fandoms: Star Trek And D&DYesterday 4:32PMUnlike their popular cousins, bumble bees don’t create honey for human consumption. But…

Photo: Sean Gallup (Getty Images)A California judge ruled this week that bees can now be legally defined as “fish” under a state conservation law, but they’re still biologically bees (obviously).The decision comes from California’s Third District Court of Appeal, whichruled on Tuesday that the California Endangered Species Act can protect bees. In 2020, the Sacramento County Superior Court ruled that the California Fish and Game Commission could not list invertebrates (like bees) under the California Endangered Species…