Bumblebees are by far one of the cheeriest little beings on this planet of ours. In the summer when I hear that friendly little buzzy hum I have to smile as I watch their somewhat cumbersome bodies float lazily from flower to flower. And perhaps the keyword here is lazy, according to some very adorable tired bumblebee images captured by photographers. When you take a look at these funny little tired bumblebees taking a nap during their very busy day, it might be a good time to reflect on their plight and understand how important bees are to keeping our planet fed. (1)

Why We Need Bees

Sleepy or not, bees play an important role in producing crops to feed us. You might be surprised to learn that a third of food production on earth depends on animals to help pollinate crops. Of the animals involved 80 to 90% is thanks to honeybees. Without bees, humans have to find a way to do their job, but we can’t do it as well. (2)

The Plight Of The Honeybee

One of the most interesting facts I learned in my career was writing for a bee farm in Florida. I had no idea there is an entire industry based on shipping bees to fruit orchards across North America during pollination season. Because of bee shortages across the continent, many honey farmers have found an additional way to make money: sending their bees out to pollinate the fruit and nut orchards of America. But why?

Declining Numbers Of Honeybees

It’s a sad, but familiar story. Bee numbers are declining at an alarming rate according to researchers from the University of Maryland. They found that as much as 40% of the honeybee colonies in the U.S. were lost between October 2018 and April 2019. Although most of us have heard the stories about bees dying, this loss is the highest seen in 13 years. (3)

That’s alarming because I thought this issue was over. Unfortunately, it appears to be getting worse. In fact, another study found it is not an isolated issue in North America. In the UK, they experienced losses to wild bee and hoverfly species by one-third between 1980 and 2013. Surprisingly it turns out man is not the only culprit. (4, 5)

What’s Killing The Honeybee?

The world has seen a number of changes that are killing off our bees, which can be narrowed down to three issues: pesticides, parasites and infections. Other issues range from a decrease in the diversity of crops, loss of habitat and of course climate change. (6, 5)

CCD And Honeybees

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) kills bees here and in Europe. Some argue that pesticides are mainly at fault because they might have worn down the bees’ resistance. As a result, where bees of the past might have been resistant to diseases, today’s bees no longer have the strength to fight off the parasites and infections that are killing them. (5)

Entire colonies will be healthy in the fall and then die off completely by the spring according to Michael Breed, a honeybee researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder. With 35 years’ experience working with bees, he says he never saw colonies disappear before 2005. However today not only do his only colonies die, but the same happens throughout the community for beekeepers in the area. Because of this, new colonies have to be shipped to the beekeepers each spring. (5)

While science and industry seem to be managing the loss of honeybees, we once again need to take stock of our actions. We all share this planet people, so let’s work together to protect every species big and small!