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(bees buzzing)
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(solemn music)
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(footsteps thudding)
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(bees buzzing)
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(ax thudding)
(bees buzzing)
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(bees buzzing)
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(door creaking)
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The bees fed our family.
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They were a part of my grandfather's cannery.
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They pollinated the raspberries,
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pears and apricots and his orchards
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and also the cucumbers.
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I loved my grandfather for all the animals he had,
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horses, dogs, birds, even a roebuck.
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But what he loved most were his bees.
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He had 150 bee colonies.
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He even built a special house for them.
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Lying in the grass in his garden,
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I could hear the bees buzzing.
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But I didn't know that I was
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watching the flowers having sex.
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The plants, my grandfather explained,
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are rooted to the ground.
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They can't run across the field and hug each other.
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But they can't have children on their own.
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What they need is a messenger of love, a bee.
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To attract a bee, the plants produce sweet nectar.
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The bee drinks from one flower and flies to the next,
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taking along male pollen on its fur.
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(bees buzzing)
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So, while looking for food,
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it pollinates plant after plant.
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And each plant starts to bear fruit.
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(gentle music)
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My grandfather was a patriarch
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of gardens and bees, people and machines.
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He was fascinated by how everything interacted.
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But the bees are in trouble, now.
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A few years ago they started dying.
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Not just our bees.
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They're dying all over the world.
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The news is full of reports.
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They say it's a mystery.
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I take to the road, to find out why.
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The bloom is nearly full now.
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It's just such a gorgeous time of year to be out here.
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I mean it's just beautiful.
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And no one sees this.
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The bee guy sees it, the almond guy sees it.
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Listen.
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(bees buzzing)
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Can you hear that?
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That's the sound of money.
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Fresh printed money.
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Bees and trees.
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Nice.
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Ladies, how are you today?
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Ah, you're busy.
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It's warm, it's sunny.
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An old maid.
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It's a nut that didn't get shaken and didn't get hulled.
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And right there,
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there, yum!
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Delicious.
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1/3 of our food
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wouldn't exist without bees.
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My grandfather explained their secret to me.
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Colorful and fragrant plants are pollinated by insects.
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The plain and dry ones, by the wind.
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(gentle music)
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(bees buzzing)
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The apricots and raspberries, on the jam labels,
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were printed by my grandfather.
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His competitors were more efficient.
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They had the fruit delivered by rail.
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My grandfather went bankrupt.
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All he had left were his bees.
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(bees buzzing)
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They still brought him the nectar,
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but, the apples grew in a paradise he had lost.
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It's sort of a Faustian deal
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that we made with the almond growers.
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We know, going in,
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that there are risks and opportunities,
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in the almond orchards.
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You know, they pay a lot of money.
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I mean, you know, it's no mystery.
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We've got 4,000 hives here at $150 a hive, that's $600,000.
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To me that's real money.
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(airplane whirling)
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That might be Joe Mack.
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He might be flying down to Bakersfield today.
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I think California produces 80%, maybe a little more,
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of the world production in almonds.
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In terms of the almonds
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that are actually in trade in the world,
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it's higher than that.
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It may be close to 90%.
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(machines creaking)
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It's not commercial to grow almonds on a very small scale.
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I know of no reason why that system
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will not be sustainable for the long term.
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There's nothing that I've seen,
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in my 35 years in the industry,
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which would lead me to think that
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that concentration of almonds in one area is
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self-defeating in some way.
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That it will somehow crash
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as a result of being concentrated.
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I've seen nothing to that, to indicate that.
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(airplane whirling)
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We would not have a business without bees.
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Without some type of insect pollinator
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almonds won't set any crop whatsoever.
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We've proven that again and again.
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So our business relies entirely upon pollination by bees.
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(bees buzzing)
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Unlike bumblebees and butterflies,
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bees remain true to one type of flower.
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Some bees fly only to apples, others, only to bellflowers.
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They don't fly to a different type
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until they've finished the work they started.
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But here they have no choice.
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There are only almond trees.
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(bees buzzing)
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(solemn music)
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Inside the hive the bees hand over
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the nectar to their sisters,
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who chew on it, until it turns into honey,
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and store it in empty honeycomb cells.
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(solemn music)
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They put the pollen into pollen baskets,
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and store it as a protein reserve.
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But the returning bees bring back even more information.
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When I was at school, we watched a silent movie,
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The Dances of Bees.
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It was directed by Karl von Frisch,
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a scientist who received the Nobel Prize
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for discovering the waggle dance.
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Bees, he discovered, use the dance
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to communicate to their sisters
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the distance to the best flowers
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and the direction to fly in.
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The faster they waggle, the closer the food source.
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In the darkness of the cinema, the bees were so annoying.
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It was so hard to comprehend their geometry.
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They were so awfully clever and complicated.
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(solemn music)
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At the Freie Universitat, Berlin,
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Professor Menzel is studying the question
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of whether bees can make decisions.
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His experiment poses a dilemma for the bees.
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They already know a food source.
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But receive information from another bee
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about a second, perhaps better, feeding site.
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What to do?
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(bee buzzing)
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(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)
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(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)
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(bee buzzing)
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(radar beeping)
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(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)
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(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)
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She's a lovely little insect.
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Very tolerant.
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Not very smart, but really tolerant.
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(bees buzzing)
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Two weeks from today,
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It may look like an orchard to us,
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but to them it looks like a desert.
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There's nothing to eat.
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The almond grower will call me and say,
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"The bloom is over you may now go."
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So we do go
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because if we leave the bees here, they'll starve.
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We're about to be run over.
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(machine rumbling)
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(speaking foreign language) Ribbon?
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Okay.
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(speaks in foreign language)
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Thank you.
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He's starting from the other ribbon.
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So maybe he'll go a little ways away.
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If they'll just not spray the bees,
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that's great, you know?
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That's great.
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'Cause it really,
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you know, ideally they'd spray at night,
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when the bees are in.
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By the time the material is dry, and isn't so lethal,
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it's the next day.
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If they'd just spray it at night.
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But, you know, you can't see at night.
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They don't know where they are.
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These fields are massive, they get lost.
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So, they're going to do what they're going to do.
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It doesn't kill the bees.
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But it repels the bees.
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If after this material has dried on the bloom,
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the bees bring that material back to the colony
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and feed it to the babies,
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19 days later we see an impact on the brood.
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We see brood die-off and it's the fungicide at work.
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Pretty much everybody knows it.
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(machine rumbling)
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That's the only two motivations
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in life my friends, greed and fear.
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I don't know how to shrink a business
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or a lifestyle and be happy.
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That's not in my DNA.
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It's like, we're capitalists, we wanna grow.
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Total global domination. (laughs)
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(solemn music)
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(bees buzzing)
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(bees buzzing)
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(birds chirping)
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(speaking in foreign language)
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Mating in the air with drones
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from other colonies,
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not in the hive with the bee's brothers,
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is an ingenious way of protecting against incest.
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(solemn music)
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The queen is the mother of all 50,000 bees in the hive.
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She lays up to 2,000 eggs a day,
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the equivalent of her own body mass.
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The other bees tend to her needs,
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care for her, feed and clean her.
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When she dies, the bees must raise a new queen.
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The process is risky and takes a whole month.
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The queen can lay infertile eggs
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that develop into drones, male bees,
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or fertile eggs from which female, worker bees emerge.
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The eggs hatch into larvae,
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which are fed by the bees with nectar and pollen.
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Then, they seal the lid.
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The larva pupates,
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and three weeks later a worker bee emerges.
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(solemn music)
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The fat, male drones take three days longer.
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They'll be fed their whole life long by the worker bees,
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in order to build up their strength for the daily flights.
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They leave every afternoon, around 2:00 p.m.,
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in the hope of meeting a princess mid-air.
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Those who don't get a chance, on the honeymoon flight,
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are killed by the worker bees in the fall.
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In winter, drones would just be useless mouths to feed.
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(bees buzzing)
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My grandfather's honey is not a gift
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from the bees, after all.
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My grandfather steals the honey from the bees,
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and gives them sugar water to store for the winter, instead.
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Like the glass beads the Indians received
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in payment for their gold.
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Even more ingeniously,
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grandfather manipulates them by breeding queens,
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that increase the bees' docility and diligence.
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More profit, fewer stings.
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If you want to command the bees
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you have to command the queen.
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She's the key.
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The bees decide when they want a new queen.
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And build up a special cell for her.
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Before the princess hatches,
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the old queen swarms out with the old bees,
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and leaves the hive to the younger generation.
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The colony turns into two.
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Breeders interfere with this process.
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They take the queen away,
269
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,633
which forces the colony to raise a new one.
270
00:28:13,190 --> 00:28:16,913
But the new queen is queen by the breeder's grace.
271
00:29:15,222 --> 00:29:17,889
(bees buzzing)
272
00:29:37,911 --> 00:29:41,001
The nurse colony is nervous,
273
00:29:41,001 --> 00:29:42,550
Good!
274
00:29:42,550 --> 00:29:45,430
It has been manipulated by the beekeeper
275
00:29:45,430 --> 00:29:47,513
and has neither a queen, nor brood.
276
00:29:48,397 --> 00:29:50,170
(solemn music)
277
00:29:50,170 --> 00:29:54,280
The bees urgently need a new mother for the offspring,
278
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,193
or else the colony will be dead within a few weeks.
279
00:29:58,190 --> 00:29:59,823
They only need one queen.
280
00:30:01,170 --> 00:30:03,417
But in their distress they tend to all
281
00:30:03,417 --> 00:30:06,430
the 51 larvae that Heaven has sent them
282
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,840
They feed them with royal jelly
283
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,670
and build queen cells around them.
284
00:30:12,670 --> 00:30:15,253
(solemn music)
285
00:30:40,829 --> 00:30:42,860
The first queen that hatches
286
00:30:42,860 --> 00:30:45,423
will kill the other ones in their cells.
287
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,873
There can only be one queen in the colony.
288
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,480
That's why the cells have to be harvested
289
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,003
and placed in queenless colonies before they hatch.
290
00:31:40,964 --> 00:31:44,008
(bees buzzing)
291
00:31:44,008 --> 00:31:46,591
(gentle music)
292
00:31:53,157 --> 00:31:55,824
(bees buzzing)
293
00:32:30,830 --> 00:32:34,310
The drone dies during the mating ceremony.
294
00:32:34,310 --> 00:32:37,380
When the queen returns from her maiden flight,
295
00:32:37,380 --> 00:32:41,238
she keeps five million sperms in her sperm bag.
296
00:32:41,238 --> 00:32:45,473
In there they can stay alive for eight years.
297
00:33:57,460 --> 00:34:00,377
(beekeeper laughs)
298
00:34:26,970 --> 00:34:30,860
Singer queens are sold to 58 countries,
299
00:34:30,860 --> 00:34:33,450
as well as artificial swarms,
300
00:34:33,450 --> 00:34:37,300
four to six pounds of loose bees in a box,
301
00:34:37,300 --> 00:34:39,083
with a separately packed queen.
302
00:34:40,087 --> 00:34:42,837
(carts rattling)
303
00:34:45,568 --> 00:34:48,235
(bees buzzing)
304
00:34:50,500 --> 00:34:51,750
There you go.
305
00:35:08,082 --> 00:35:10,664
(gentle music)
306
00:35:10,664 --> 00:35:13,581
(machine whirling)
307
00:35:35,921 --> 00:35:38,921
(airplane whirling)
308
00:35:43,179 --> 00:35:45,180
Before the settlers came,
309
00:35:45,180 --> 00:35:47,720
there weren't any honey bees in America.
310
00:35:49,270 --> 00:35:51,910
But the colonists wanted to cultivate the prairie
311
00:35:51,910 --> 00:35:53,553
and grow fruit and vegetables.
312
00:35:55,162 --> 00:35:58,750
To pollinate them, they needed bees.
313
00:35:58,750 --> 00:36:00,800
New colonies have to be imported
314
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,103
or cultivated on a regular basis.
315
00:36:04,781 --> 00:36:07,448
(bees buzzing)
316
00:36:20,091 --> 00:36:23,091
(machines whirling)
317
00:36:41,758 --> 00:36:44,675
(machines beeping)
318
00:36:56,530 --> 00:36:58,533
I am a migratory beekeeper.
319
00:36:59,510 --> 00:37:03,010
In practice it means we go where the bees
320
00:37:03,010 --> 00:37:05,920
have the most opportunity to thrive.
321
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:07,890
That takes us across America.
322
00:37:07,890 --> 00:37:10,640
In the course of a year we go from California,
323
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:14,780
where the almonds and cherries begin the season,
324
00:37:14,780 --> 00:37:16,933
in early, early spring, February.
325
00:37:17,940 --> 00:37:19,660
We then go to Washington State
326
00:37:19,660 --> 00:37:22,380
for apple pollination, apricot pollination,
327
00:37:22,380 --> 00:37:25,733
cherry pollination in late March and April.
328
00:37:26,910 --> 00:37:30,380
We move the entire outfit to North Dakota for summer.
329
00:37:30,380 --> 00:37:33,393
All the bees go for honey production in the summer.
330
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:39,360
By October 1st, we've begun to close the circle
331
00:37:40,090 --> 00:37:43,160
moving the colonies back west before winter.
332
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,183
So in the course of a year it's one big circle.
333
00:37:49,942 --> 00:37:52,525
(solemn music)
334
00:38:09,849 --> 00:38:11,690
It's a little under 1700 miles,
335
00:38:11,690 --> 00:38:14,333
from California to North Dakota.
336
00:38:19,070 --> 00:38:22,670
We try to transport the bees in two days
337
00:38:22,670 --> 00:38:24,573
and spend one night on the road.
338
00:38:25,860 --> 00:38:29,170
The less time the bees spend on the truck,
339
00:38:29,170 --> 00:38:30,970
the better and healthier they'll be.
340
00:38:32,650 --> 00:38:34,390
The bees can't fly outside their hive
341
00:38:34,390 --> 00:38:37,433
when we're trucking them to, like, go to the bathroom.
342
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,980
So, the longer they have to stay in their box,
343
00:38:41,980 --> 00:38:46,980
and hold their potty the more unhealthy they'll be.
344
00:38:48,138 --> 00:38:50,530
And it's stressful, and it's just,
345
00:38:50,530 --> 00:38:53,800
it's not natural for the bees to be on a truck.
346
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,260
The sooner we get them off the truck,
347
00:38:56,260 --> 00:38:57,510
the better it's gonna be.
348
00:38:59,346 --> 00:39:01,929
(solemn music)
349
00:39:38,362 --> 00:39:41,112
(truck rumbling)
350
00:39:46,570 --> 00:39:48,580
The breaks are short.
351
00:39:48,580 --> 00:39:52,583
Without any airstream, it gets too hot inside the boxes.
352
00:40:23,865 --> 00:40:25,308
On the plantations,
353
00:40:25,308 --> 00:40:29,470
one and a half million bee colonies interact,
354
00:40:29,470 --> 00:40:32,333
2/3 of all the bees in the USA,
355
00:40:33,340 --> 00:40:37,123
and they infect each other with diseases and parasites.
356
00:40:38,170 --> 00:40:40,190
The diseases travel along with them
357
00:40:40,190 --> 00:40:41,893
all the way across America.
358
00:40:43,497 --> 00:40:46,080
(solemn music)
359
00:40:50,970 --> 00:40:54,210
Nosema is an intestinal parasite
360
00:40:54,210 --> 00:40:56,643
and eats the bee from the inside.
361
00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:59,903
Wax moths destroy the honeycomb.
362
00:41:01,023 --> 00:41:02,923
Foulbrood kills the larvae.
363
00:41:04,260 --> 00:41:07,270
But the most dangerous of all is a mite.
364
00:41:07,270 --> 00:41:10,633
Its name is Varroa Destructor.
365
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,523
His brooding site is the bee's own brood cells.
366
00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,310
The young mites infest the larvae,
367
00:41:20,310 --> 00:41:23,080
as well as cling to adult bees,
368
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,470
ram their jaws between the rings of the bee's body,
369
00:41:26,470 --> 00:41:27,883
and suck the bee's blood.
370
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:31,360
In the human world,
371
00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,143
these bloodsuckers would be the size of a rabbit.
372
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,250
Viruses invade the body through the open wounds,
373
00:41:39,250 --> 00:41:40,943
deforming the bee's wings.
374
00:41:42,387 --> 00:41:44,970
(solemn music)
375
00:42:42,358 --> 00:42:43,191
Hm.
376
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:47,360
Okay, there's very few bees here.
377
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:49,023
This is trouble.
378
00:42:51,900 --> 00:42:55,927
So let's have a look, there are no bees.
379
00:43:02,090 --> 00:43:03,663
This is what we don't like.
380
00:43:10,510 --> 00:43:12,903
Classic colony collapse disorder.
381
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:14,873
A queen,
382
00:43:17,980 --> 00:43:20,683
20 friends,
383
00:43:23,990 --> 00:43:25,133
and nothing else.
384
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,293
This is a total loss and we don't know why.
385
00:43:36,372 --> 00:43:37,705
Just, just gone!
386
00:43:43,420 --> 00:43:46,943
Plenty of pollen, plenty of nectar,
387
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,223
no evidence of brood.
388
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:56,513
I'm getting real comfortable with death on an epic scale.
389
00:43:57,590 --> 00:43:58,443
I don't like it.
390
00:44:00,426 --> 00:44:03,093
(bees buzzing)
391
00:44:08,970 --> 00:44:12,503
It doesn't burn and it doesn't sting like it used to.
392
00:44:13,671 --> 00:44:14,660
You know, it used to be like,
393
00:44:14,660 --> 00:44:16,480
oh God, it's a death in the family
394
00:44:18,780 --> 00:44:21,680
and now it's just something we gotta fix.
395
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:26,680
It's just, you know, I gotta fix it.
396
00:44:27,290 --> 00:44:29,050
I don't have time to take it personally.
397
00:44:29,050 --> 00:44:32,040
I know this hive didn't mean to die.
398
00:44:32,040 --> 00:44:33,563
I don't know why it died.
399
00:44:34,690 --> 00:44:35,890
But I can't fix it,
400
00:44:35,890 --> 00:44:37,630
I just gotta move on.
401
00:44:37,630 --> 00:44:39,900
You know, I can't mourn the loss of this hive.
402
00:44:39,900 --> 00:44:41,250
It's just part of the game.
403
00:44:45,100 --> 00:44:48,913
Hey, we got 365 out of 456.
404
00:44:50,293 --> 00:44:52,743
456?
456 in-bound.
405
00:44:57,670 --> 00:45:00,163
It's right at 20%.
406
00:45:00,163 --> 00:45:01,390
[Beekeeper With Yellow Suit] That's our worst load.
407
00:45:01,390 --> 00:45:03,237
Yeah, the worst one yet.
408
00:45:04,717 --> 00:45:06,567
But the ones that are here look good.
409
00:45:11,950 --> 00:45:13,790
So, hopefully the next ones aren't that bad.
410
00:45:13,790 --> 00:45:15,474
That's 90 duds.
411
00:45:15,474 --> 00:45:18,833
[Beekeeper In White Suit] 91.
412
00:45:18,833 --> 00:45:21,360
[Beekeeper In Yellow Suit] I am backed into a corner
413
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:26,153
and I fight back with what I have, chemicals.
414
00:45:47,909 --> 00:45:50,826
(machine rumbling)
415
00:45:55,901 --> 00:45:58,651
(truck rumbling)
416
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:07,030
After the stressful journey
417
00:46:07,030 --> 00:46:10,903
the bees are given sugar water, mixed with antibiotics.
418
00:46:14,516 --> 00:46:17,920
In Europe, North America and China
419
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:21,764
the honeybee can no longer survive without drugs.
420
00:46:21,764 --> 00:46:24,514
(water sloshing)
421
00:46:47,311 --> 00:46:51,311
(speaking in foreign language)
422
00:47:20,023 --> 00:47:22,730
But the 50,000 little brains
423
00:47:22,730 --> 00:47:25,730
network in a super-organism,
424
00:47:25,730 --> 00:47:29,580
which is more than just a bustling brown mass.
425
00:47:29,580 --> 00:47:32,110
It's 50,000 members of a family,
426
00:47:32,110 --> 00:47:35,520
the population of a medium sized town.
427
00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:39,850
Each bee, depending on its age, has a designated role.
428
00:47:39,850 --> 00:47:43,433
No one give commands, and yet, everyone obeys.
429
00:47:44,500 --> 00:47:48,423
Even the honeycomb is a part of this sophisticated system.
430
00:47:50,270 --> 00:47:53,400
A communication network, full of information,
431
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,453
passed on, in the dark hive odors.
432
00:47:57,370 --> 00:48:00,793
I can imagine what a colorblind person misses out on,
433
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:05,803
but not, what the world looks like through one's nose.
434
00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:11,060
The bees have 60,000 smell receptors
435
00:48:11,060 --> 00:48:12,473
on each of their antennae,
436
00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:16,433
which allows them to smell in stereo.
437
00:48:17,570 --> 00:48:21,590
They also have gustatory hair on their legs.
438
00:48:21,590 --> 00:48:23,890
As they walk across the honeycomb,
439
00:48:23,890 --> 00:48:26,950
they receive a 3 dimensional odor-image
440
00:48:26,950 --> 00:48:28,543
of the colony's condition.
441
00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:31,170
Where's the queen?
442
00:48:31,170 --> 00:48:32,653
Are enough eggs being laid?
443
00:48:33,500 --> 00:48:35,523
Are sufficient stocks being stored?
444
00:48:37,510 --> 00:48:41,143
Without its colony the individual bee cannot survive.
445
00:48:42,580 --> 00:48:45,610
It must subordinate its personal freedom
446
00:48:45,610 --> 00:48:47,033
for the good of the colony.
447
00:48:48,190 --> 00:48:53,010
In each bee family, up to 2,000 bees die, every day
448
00:48:53,010 --> 00:48:54,903
and 2,000 new ones are born.
449
00:48:55,950 --> 00:48:58,500
Could it be, that the individual bees
450
00:48:58,500 --> 00:49:01,540
are like the organs or cells of a body?
451
00:49:01,540 --> 00:49:05,083
Is the super-oganisim, as a whole, the actual animal?
452
00:49:28,266 --> 00:49:33,266
(bees buzzing)
(machines clanking)
453
00:49:50,266 --> 00:49:52,849
(solemn music)
454
00:50:43,522 --> 00:50:44,927
When the bees swarm out
455
00:50:44,927 --> 00:50:47,263
the colony is divided into two.
456
00:50:48,470 --> 00:50:51,400
The commercial beekeeper beats the bees to it
457
00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:55,233
and turns one colony into four, to replace dead colonies.
458
00:50:58,059 --> 00:50:59,726
Brood.
459
00:51:01,310 --> 00:51:02,143
Honey.
460
00:51:04,620 --> 00:51:05,453
Eggs.
461
00:51:06,330 --> 00:51:11,330
♪ Oh, everybody needs somebody that they can talk to ♪
462
00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:13,455
♪ Someone to open up their ears ♪
463
00:51:13,455 --> 00:51:15,870
♪ And let their trouble through ♪
464
00:51:15,870 --> 00:51:18,280
♪ Now you don't have to sympathize ♪
465
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,776
♪ Or care what they might do ♪
466
00:51:20,776 --> 00:51:23,345
♪ But everybody needs somebody ♪
467
00:51:23,345 --> 00:51:27,000
♪ That they can talk to ♪
468
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:28,850
Each colony is split up.
469
00:51:29,855 --> 00:51:33,020
Eggs, brood and honeycomb are uncrated
470
00:51:33,020 --> 00:51:36,095
into four empty boxes like spare parts,
471
00:51:36,095 --> 00:51:38,493
thus mixing brood with other colonies.
472
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:41,653
Most of the queens die in the process.
473
00:51:42,543 --> 00:51:47,004
New queens are delivered by FedEx, and placed in the hives.
474
00:51:47,004 --> 00:51:49,671
(bees buzzing)
475
00:51:51,054 --> 00:51:53,537
(beekeeper groaning)
476
00:51:53,537 --> 00:51:55,490
Things have changed rapidly.
477
00:51:55,490 --> 00:51:58,150
We don't keep bees the way my dad did.
478
00:51:58,150 --> 00:51:59,940
My grandfather would probably
479
00:51:59,940 --> 00:52:04,940
walk from this property disturbed.
480
00:52:05,220 --> 00:52:07,480
If he saw the way we keep bees today,
481
00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:10,760
he'd think, my God, you have lost your soul,
482
00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:12,237
in the husbandry of the hive
483
00:52:12,237 --> 00:52:15,640
and the care and the compassion in the keeping of the hive.
484
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:20,640
He'd say we've sacrificed our relationship with the colony.
485
00:52:21,610 --> 00:52:24,130
But it was probably easier to maintain
486
00:52:24,130 --> 00:52:26,013
that relationship with the hive.
487
00:52:27,370 --> 00:52:30,320
Because he was running, what, 1500 hives?
488
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:31,903
We're running ten times that.
489
00:52:32,993 --> 00:52:34,480
You know, we have ten times the employees,
490
00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:35,760
we have ten times the property,
491
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:40,600
we have ten times the square foot of plant and equipment.
492
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:43,150
We have ten times the trucks with ten times the power,
493
00:52:43,150 --> 00:52:44,721
at ten times the cost.
494
00:52:44,721 --> 00:52:47,304
(solemn music)
495
00:53:20,659 --> 00:53:23,076
(horn beeps)
496
00:53:29,850 --> 00:53:33,683
(speaks in foreign language)
497
00:53:34,870 --> 00:53:36,500
The black bees have raised
498
00:53:36,500 --> 00:53:39,103
a new queen without yellow stripes.
499
00:53:40,160 --> 00:53:44,200
On her mating flight she never left the narrow valley.
500
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:47,930
Her daughters are, once again, racially pure.
501
00:55:59,294 --> 00:56:01,877
(bees buzzing)
502
00:57:10,285 --> 00:57:13,035
(fire crackling)
503
00:57:28,134 --> 00:57:30,717
(solemn music)
504
00:58:14,758 --> 00:58:18,758
(speaking in foreign language)
505
01:00:16,798 --> 01:00:20,360
Mao once ordered that the sparrows be killed,
506
01:00:20,360 --> 01:00:22,493
because they rob the people of grain.
507
01:00:23,830 --> 01:00:27,180
Billions of sparrows were killed.
508
01:00:27,180 --> 01:00:30,237
The result was a plague of insects.
509
01:00:30,237 --> 01:00:31,250
(bell dings)
510
01:00:31,250 --> 01:00:33,003
It was fought with insecticides.
511
01:00:34,370 --> 01:00:36,547
The bees also fell victim.
512
01:00:41,831 --> 01:00:44,831
(people chattering)
513
01:01:34,877 --> 01:01:37,573
Rumor has it that Einstein once said,
514
01:01:38,540 --> 01:01:40,360
if the bees ever die out,
515
01:01:40,360 --> 01:01:43,163
mankind will follow 4 years later.
516
01:01:46,130 --> 01:01:47,863
I take a trip to the future.
517
01:01:49,240 --> 01:01:52,560
I'm astonished to find regions in China
518
01:01:52,560 --> 01:01:54,810
where they use so many chemicals
519
01:01:54,810 --> 01:01:56,773
that all bees have disappeared.
520
01:01:58,940 --> 01:02:01,713
They're not sure whether to let me watch or not.
521
01:02:13,570 --> 01:02:16,403
(peaceful music)
522
01:02:56,090 --> 01:03:00,220
No other country can afford to ask itself the question
523
01:03:00,220 --> 01:03:03,303
currently being posed at The University of Beijing,
524
01:03:04,310 --> 01:03:08,023
who's better at pollinating, man or bees?
525
01:03:08,980 --> 01:03:12,817
Science answers with a definite, not man!
526
01:03:20,386 --> 01:03:23,053
(bees buzzing)
527
01:03:35,266 --> 01:03:39,940
Here's what we've worked for all summer long.
528
01:03:39,940 --> 01:03:43,053
We see this abundance of honey, beautiful!
529
01:03:44,070 --> 01:03:45,960
Beautiful, summer honey.
530
01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:47,700
It's done, off, off!
531
01:03:49,030 --> 01:03:49,863
Hey!
532
01:03:51,320 --> 01:03:52,690
Mine!
533
01:03:52,690 --> 01:03:54,340
They don't like sharing too much.
534
01:03:56,020 --> 01:03:59,113
My thought was, taste it.
535
01:04:02,410 --> 01:04:04,490
Yeah, that's good.
536
01:04:04,490 --> 01:04:06,923
That's real good, that's why it's straight out of the hive.
537
01:04:09,540 --> 01:04:11,910
It's traumatic, it's hard on them.
538
01:04:11,910 --> 01:04:13,263
They don't understand it.
539
01:04:14,320 --> 01:04:18,870
They've been flying in the fields for months undisturbed,
540
01:04:18,870 --> 01:04:22,720
and now suddenly someone came and blew smoke in their face,
541
01:04:22,720 --> 01:04:27,490
and took the boxes off and scraped their top bars,
542
01:04:27,490 --> 01:04:31,230
and handled them roughly, and now the lid's back on,
543
01:04:31,230 --> 01:04:36,021
and the hive is a lot smaller than it used to be.
544
01:04:36,021 --> 01:04:39,021
(machines whirling)
545
01:05:46,785 --> 01:05:47,665
(metal clanking)
546
01:05:47,665 --> 01:05:50,665
(machines whirling)
547
01:06:03,240 --> 01:06:06,210
It's a four to five week lifespan.
548
01:06:06,210 --> 01:06:09,733
A single bee produces about one teaspoon of honey.
549
01:06:11,010 --> 01:06:13,570
For two pounds of honey a colony has to fly
550
01:06:13,570 --> 01:06:15,393
three times around the world.
551
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:20,980
Bees filter out the toxins with their own bodies.
552
01:06:20,980 --> 01:06:23,910
They sacrifice themselves so that the brood eats
553
01:06:23,910 --> 01:06:25,623
only the purest of honey.
554
01:06:26,500 --> 01:06:29,231
But traces of pesticides probably remain.
555
01:06:29,231 --> 01:06:31,981
(truck rumbling)
556
01:06:47,572 --> 01:06:50,572
(machines whirling)
557
01:07:24,125 --> 01:07:27,572
(machines beeping)
558
01:07:27,572 --> 01:07:29,713
How many Chinese migrant workers
559
01:07:29,713 --> 01:07:31,783
does it take to replace the bees?
560
01:07:33,360 --> 01:07:36,120
It took four billion bees a whole month,
561
01:07:36,120 --> 01:07:38,533
to produce these mountains of almonds.
562
01:07:39,570 --> 01:07:43,313
Even vegetarians depend on industrial animal husbandry.
563
01:07:45,540 --> 01:07:48,840
What's causing the bees to die?
564
01:07:48,840 --> 01:07:50,640
Looking for clues,
565
01:07:50,640 --> 01:07:53,500
I come across the divine promise of growth,
566
01:07:53,500 --> 01:07:55,083
we learned in Sunday school.
567
01:07:56,330 --> 01:07:58,440
Be fruitful and multiply.
568
01:07:58,440 --> 01:08:01,410
Fill the earth and subdue it.
569
01:08:01,410 --> 01:08:04,253
The massive death of bees is no mystery.
570
01:08:05,290 --> 01:08:07,560
What's killing them is not pesticides,
571
01:08:07,560 --> 01:08:11,810
mites, antibiotics, incest or stress,
572
01:08:11,810 --> 01:08:14,823
but a combination of all those factors.
573
01:08:15,870 --> 01:08:20,870
They are dying as a result of our civilization's success.
574
01:08:20,880 --> 01:08:25,610
As a result of man, who has turned feral bees
575
01:08:25,610 --> 01:08:30,610
into docile domestic animals, wolves, into delicate poodles.
576
01:08:31,860 --> 01:08:34,603
But why do the bees put up with it?
577
01:08:34,603 --> 01:08:37,270
(gentle music)
578
01:09:05,130 --> 01:09:08,833
We flew around the world four times to make this film.
579
01:09:10,540 --> 01:09:13,623
On one of the last flights, while looking out of the window,
580
01:09:14,880 --> 01:09:17,713
I remembered a story from Alice in Wonderland.
581
01:09:18,835 --> 01:09:21,070
The story of the Red Queen.
582
01:09:21,070 --> 01:09:24,116
The Red Queen grabs Alice by the hand
583
01:09:24,116 --> 01:09:26,010
and runs off with her,
584
01:09:26,010 --> 01:09:30,010
and on, until Alice is gasping for air.
585
01:09:30,010 --> 01:09:32,810
Faster, faster, the Queen cries.
586
01:09:32,810 --> 01:09:35,570
The wind almost blows the hair off Alice's head,
587
01:09:35,570 --> 01:09:38,820
but the world around her stands still.
588
01:09:38,820 --> 01:09:41,583
As if the trees and buildings were running, too.
589
01:09:42,460 --> 01:09:44,300
Faster, the Red Queen cries out,
590
01:09:44,300 --> 01:09:46,243
until Alice falls down exhausted.
591
01:09:47,200 --> 01:09:48,730
She looks around and says,
592
01:09:48,730 --> 01:09:52,130
But we've been under this tree the whole time!
593
01:09:52,130 --> 01:09:53,773
Everything, just as it was!
594
01:09:54,950 --> 01:09:57,410
Of course it is, the Red Queen replies,
595
01:09:57,410 --> 01:09:59,330
It takes all the running you can do,
596
01:09:59,330 --> 01:10:00,766
to keep in the same place.
597
01:10:00,766 --> 01:10:03,349
(solemn music)
598
01:10:06,699 --> 01:10:09,366
(sires blaring)
599
01:10:12,200 --> 01:10:13,430
One of the first people to pull up
600
01:10:13,430 --> 01:10:15,590
to the scene, the Lakeville Fire Chief,
601
01:10:15,590 --> 01:10:17,090
couldn't figure out why there was
602
01:10:17,090 --> 01:10:19,160
a cloud around the accident,
603
01:10:19,160 --> 01:10:20,920
when there was nothing on fire.
604
01:10:20,920 --> 01:10:23,630
There was a haze, a black haze, around the whole scene.
605
01:10:23,630 --> 01:10:26,770
And I was, I just have never quite seen anything like that.
606
01:10:26,770 --> 01:10:27,890
Didn't know he drove
607
01:10:27,890 --> 01:10:30,240
right into a swarm of bees.
608
01:10:33,510 --> 01:10:35,010
Stung in the face a few times,
609
01:10:35,010 --> 01:10:36,740
immediately he ordered his crews
610
01:10:36,740 --> 01:10:39,840
to wear full turn-out gear for protection.
611
01:10:39,840 --> 01:10:43,300
14 people have died in the US since 2004,
612
01:10:43,300 --> 01:10:46,030
after being attacked by swarms of killer bees.
613
01:10:46,030 --> 01:10:47,490
Killer bees first escaped
614
01:10:47,490 --> 01:10:49,460
from a Brazilian breeding experiment,
615
01:10:49,460 --> 01:10:52,380
then, migrated through Central America and Mexico.
616
01:10:52,380 --> 01:10:54,920
Along the way getting a deadly reputation;
617
01:10:54,920 --> 01:10:57,660
allegedly killing hundreds of people.
618
01:10:57,660 --> 01:10:59,490
Killer bees are a cross
619
01:10:59,490 --> 01:11:02,820
between European and African bees.
620
01:11:02,820 --> 01:11:05,713
Their correct name is Africanized honeybee.
621
01:11:07,210 --> 01:11:12,053
26 swarms escaped from a lab in the University of Sao Paolo.
622
01:11:13,870 --> 01:11:16,723
Are the bees finally striking back?
623
01:11:17,660 --> 01:11:19,963
Or are they helpless in the hour of need?
624
01:11:28,380 --> 01:11:30,020
Hey RenB!
Hey, Fred!
625
01:11:30,020 --> 01:11:31,220
Came to get your bees.
626
01:11:32,080 --> 01:11:36,120
So, gonna have to take off this soffit here.
627
01:11:36,120 --> 01:11:37,840
You did say, I get a suit, right?
628
01:11:37,840 --> 01:11:39,880
Yeah, you'll get a suit.
Well, alright, Fred!
629
01:11:39,880 --> 01:11:40,979
You're my friend!
630
01:11:40,979 --> 01:11:42,150
(Fred and Rebo laughing)
631
01:11:42,150 --> 01:11:47,150
In 1992 a local minister called me to his home.
632
01:11:48,080 --> 01:11:49,960
He said, "I want you to come get my bees",
633
01:11:49,960 --> 01:11:53,930
because his neighbor had put in
634
01:11:53,930 --> 01:11:58,160
an exercise ring for his horses.
635
01:11:58,160 --> 01:12:00,630
And so the bees that were on
636
01:12:00,630 --> 01:12:03,960
his property were stinging the horses,
637
01:12:03,960 --> 01:12:05,030
and the people on the horses,
638
01:12:05,030 --> 01:12:08,630
because the horses were making a lot of noise
639
01:12:08,630 --> 01:12:11,190
and vibrating the earth,
640
01:12:11,190 --> 01:12:14,500
and of course bees don't like that.
641
01:12:14,500 --> 01:12:16,880
So, I went over dressed like this,
642
01:12:16,880 --> 01:12:18,500
with no protection whatsoever,
643
01:12:18,500 --> 01:12:20,120
I think I wearing a short-sleeve shirt,
644
01:12:20,120 --> 01:12:24,830
because I was used to working with the European bees,
645
01:12:24,830 --> 01:12:28,140
and I thought that this won't be too big of a problem.
646
01:12:28,140 --> 01:12:30,020
But, I got over there, and of course it was.
647
01:12:30,020 --> 01:12:32,200
The bees were much more ferocious
648
01:12:32,200 --> 01:12:34,800
than any I'd ever seen previously.
649
01:12:34,800 --> 01:12:37,340
I wasn't sure exactly what they were,
650
01:12:37,340 --> 01:12:38,690
but I thought, well what I'll do is,
651
01:12:38,690 --> 01:12:39,980
I'll find the queens
652
01:12:39,980 --> 01:12:42,220
and I'll put in nice new queens,
653
01:12:42,220 --> 01:12:45,170
because these bees were just too mean.
654
01:12:45,170 --> 01:12:48,970
And so, I put in a gentle queen
655
01:12:48,970 --> 01:12:53,040
and the bees killed her, immediately, killed her,
656
01:12:53,040 --> 01:12:54,590
and they raise their own queen.
657
01:12:56,550 --> 01:12:58,583
It's always a good idea to pee first.
658
01:12:59,420 --> 01:13:00,253
Okay.
Yeah,
659
01:13:00,253 --> 01:13:01,690
before we get the bees excited.
660
01:13:01,690 --> 01:13:03,970
Oh, yeah!
So if you need to go,
661
01:13:03,970 --> 01:13:05,776
now is the time.
662
01:13:05,776 --> 01:13:07,610
No, I think I'm pretty good.
663
01:13:07,610 --> 01:13:08,646
You're pretty good?
664
01:13:08,646 --> 01:13:09,946
Okay.
Yeah, I think so.
665
01:13:18,295 --> 01:13:21,045
(drill whirling)
666
01:13:24,385 --> 01:13:27,052
(bees buzzing)
667
01:13:28,558 --> 01:13:30,391
Ready Fred?
Ready.
668
01:13:31,610 --> 01:13:34,443
Move it down, just a tad.
669
01:13:35,419 --> 01:13:37,165
Beautiful, beautiful nest.
670
01:13:37,165 --> 01:13:37,998
Yeah, it is.
671
01:13:37,998 --> 01:13:39,830
Look at that, perfect rows.
672
01:13:39,830 --> 01:13:40,663
Yeah.
673
01:13:40,663 --> 01:13:42,233
They filled the cavity.
674
01:13:42,233 --> 01:13:44,243
Yeah Rebo, these are your killer bees.
675
01:13:45,801 --> 01:13:47,453
The honey flow's been on.
676
01:13:48,426 --> 01:13:49,790
You can see that comb's real fresh
677
01:13:49,790 --> 01:13:52,710
and the stuff further back is brood combs.
678
01:13:52,710 --> 01:13:53,543
Yeah.
679
01:13:57,180 --> 01:13:58,180
Look at it!
680
01:14:00,030 --> 01:14:01,003
That's beautiful.
681
01:14:06,360 --> 01:14:07,990
Looks good, even in the bucket.
682
01:14:07,990 --> 01:14:12,990
You know, Rebo, if you'd lived in Tucson 15 years ago,
683
01:14:13,540 --> 01:14:17,478
somebody might have charged you $1,000, to take this out.
684
01:14:17,478 --> 01:14:19,790
(Rebo laughs)
685
01:14:19,790 --> 01:14:23,510
At the time I had mites, parasitic mites.
686
01:14:23,510 --> 01:14:27,310
And so I thought, these really vicious hives,
687
01:14:27,310 --> 01:14:31,183
I won't treat them and so the mites will kill them.
688
01:14:33,410 --> 01:14:36,180
The mites did not kill them.
689
01:14:36,180 --> 01:14:40,950
These hives thrived with no treatment,
690
01:14:40,950 --> 01:14:45,030
whereas my gentle, treated hives
691
01:14:45,030 --> 01:14:47,490
did not do very well at all.
692
01:14:47,490 --> 01:14:49,453
And so I began to think,
693
01:14:50,380 --> 01:14:53,200
maybe there's something to these bees.
694
01:14:53,200 --> 01:14:56,980
At that time I was thinking, maybe these were African bees.
695
01:14:56,980 --> 01:14:57,980
I didn't tell anyone
696
01:14:59,950 --> 01:15:04,950
because I was afraid of what might happen if I did.
697
01:15:05,709 --> 01:15:08,376
(bees buzzing)
698
01:15:10,030 --> 01:15:11,558
It's a nice brood.
699
01:15:11,558 --> 01:15:12,477
Now this--
Oh yeah,
700
01:15:12,477 --> 01:15:15,427
the yellow is a good brood.
Yeah where is our box, Rebo?
701
01:15:16,327 --> 01:15:17,205
See it?
Yeah.
702
01:15:17,205 --> 01:15:18,038
Oh, I see that's
703
01:15:18,038 --> 01:15:19,265
what the string is for.
Yeah that's what
704
01:15:19,265 --> 01:15:20,670
the string is for.
705
01:15:20,670 --> 01:15:21,770
That's what the bears
706
01:15:21,770 --> 01:15:23,720
get in the hives for, huh, Fred?
707
01:15:23,720 --> 01:15:24,770
Yep.
708
01:15:24,770 --> 01:15:25,830
Not looking for the honey,
709
01:15:25,830 --> 01:15:27,330
they're looking for the brood.
710
01:15:33,180 --> 01:15:34,230
There we go.
711
01:15:41,508 --> 01:15:42,341
Want to pour 'em in the hives?
712
01:15:42,341 --> 01:15:43,457
Yeah, let's pour 'em in.
713
01:15:43,457 --> 01:15:46,257
The queen may well be in this bunch right here.
714
01:15:49,822 --> 01:15:50,823
The lid on.
715
01:15:55,600 --> 01:15:56,730
It's quite a bit heavier
716
01:15:56,730 --> 01:15:58,748
than just the honey that we put in there.
717
01:15:58,748 --> 01:15:59,581
Yeah.
718
01:15:59,581 --> 01:16:02,080
It's amazing how much a few bees weigh.
719
01:16:02,080 --> 01:16:05,000
Let's put it just on the edge here.
720
01:16:05,000 --> 01:16:05,993
Wanna make sure,
721
01:16:06,970 --> 01:16:08,337
scoot 'em off the bottom.
Bees, yeah.
722
01:16:08,337 --> 01:16:10,020
There any bees on the bottom?
723
01:16:10,020 --> 01:16:10,853
Not many.
724
01:16:10,853 --> 01:16:11,870
Okay, good.
Do a sweep.
725
01:16:11,870 --> 01:16:13,370
I think we're in good shape.
726
01:16:28,401 --> 01:16:31,151
(truck rumbling)
727
01:16:39,004 --> 01:16:43,004
Oh, American are always afraid of being invaded!
728
01:16:44,210 --> 01:16:48,350
If not, illegal immigrants, then, killer bees.
729
01:16:54,398 --> 01:16:56,981
(solemn music)
730
01:17:24,626 --> 01:17:27,293
(bees buzzing)
731
01:17:44,020 --> 01:17:47,200
I do have to wear a bee suit, now.
732
01:17:47,200 --> 01:17:52,200
I do have to have to work my bees much more carefully.
733
01:17:53,200 --> 01:17:54,270
But it's easily worth it.
734
01:17:54,270 --> 01:17:56,490
I know that they do make more honey.
735
01:17:56,490 --> 01:17:58,170
And they make honey that doesn't
736
01:17:58,170 --> 01:17:59,950
have any chemicals in it.
737
01:17:59,950 --> 01:18:02,475
So that means an awful lot to me.
738
01:18:02,475 --> 01:18:05,142
(bees buzzing)
739
01:18:15,750 --> 01:18:16,860
Looking good!
740
01:18:16,860 --> 01:18:17,907
Lots of drones.
741
01:18:19,407 --> 01:18:22,310
The bees are not really native to Australia.
742
01:18:22,310 --> 01:18:25,170
They arrived with the first settlers.
743
01:18:25,170 --> 01:18:29,270
And over time some of them, of course, escaped.
744
01:18:29,270 --> 01:18:31,410
And they got established.
745
01:18:31,410 --> 01:18:35,660
So we have honeybees can survive without any human help.
746
01:18:35,660 --> 01:18:37,470
which is very different from Europe,
747
01:18:37,470 --> 01:18:40,003
China, and northern America.
748
01:18:46,910 --> 01:18:48,713
So if we collect males,
749
01:18:49,570 --> 01:18:52,170
that's what is Rodolfo doing up there at the moment,
750
01:18:52,170 --> 01:18:54,430
we can basically study the queen genes,
751
01:18:54,430 --> 01:18:57,673
because the males are clone variants of the queen.
752
01:18:58,590 --> 01:19:00,730
And I always refer to our feral bees
753
01:19:00,730 --> 01:19:03,470
here in Australia as a big bank account,
754
01:19:03,470 --> 01:19:06,220
A bank account where you don't have money on it,
755
01:19:06,220 --> 01:19:09,630
you have basically genetic variations of genes on it
756
01:19:09,630 --> 01:19:12,220
and with the work which we do here at the moment
757
01:19:12,220 --> 01:19:15,324
we basically try to withdraw some of our assets,
758
01:19:15,324 --> 01:19:18,173
and we use them for future bee breeding.
759
01:19:21,020 --> 01:19:22,000
Well done.
760
01:19:22,000 --> 01:19:22,833
Alright.
761
01:19:22,833 --> 01:19:23,666
Can we have a look?
762
01:19:23,666 --> 01:19:24,499
Yep.
763
01:19:31,657 --> 01:19:32,490
Here you go.
Ah, excellent.
764
01:19:32,490 --> 01:19:34,050
Look, look at this.
765
01:19:34,050 --> 01:19:35,588
It's really nice.
766
01:19:35,588 --> 01:19:36,500
Oh my God.
767
01:19:36,500 --> 01:19:37,860
Yeah, they're very lively.
768
01:19:37,860 --> 01:19:40,610
(speaks in foreign language)
769
01:19:40,610 --> 01:19:43,393
The bees still have a grip on my family.
770
01:19:44,960 --> 01:19:48,910
Now my grandchildren are fascinated by them.
771
01:19:48,910 --> 01:19:50,380
What will they be eating
772
01:19:50,380 --> 01:19:53,093
when they themselves become grandfathers?
773
01:19:53,093 --> 01:19:55,760
(bees buzzing)
774
01:20:01,660 --> 01:20:03,520
My daughter and son-in-law
775
01:20:03,520 --> 01:20:06,640
are doing research on the bee's immune system,
776
01:20:06,640 --> 01:20:08,700
at the University of Western Australia.
777
01:20:08,700 --> 01:20:09,533
Maybe the quiet one, Hendrick,
778
01:20:09,533 --> 01:20:11,284
the one sitting still.
779
01:20:11,284 --> 01:20:12,117
Here this guy.
780
01:20:12,117 --> 01:20:13,730
In a gesture of welcoming,
781
01:20:13,730 --> 01:20:15,813
they burn my bee suit.
782
01:20:15,813 --> 01:20:17,352
(speaks in foreign language)
783
01:20:17,352 --> 01:20:18,380
Push him in.
784
01:20:18,380 --> 01:20:21,820
I could have brought in germs from my trip.
785
01:20:21,820 --> 01:20:23,860
(speaking foreign language)
786
01:20:23,860 --> 01:20:27,300
This is where the last healthy bees live.
787
01:20:27,300 --> 01:20:30,529
A continent without the Varroa mite.
788
01:20:30,529 --> 01:20:33,196
(gentle music)
789
01:20:55,382 --> 01:20:57,690
Domesticated Queens are inseminated
790
01:20:57,690 --> 01:20:59,943
with the sperm of feral bees.
791
01:21:01,330 --> 01:21:04,560
To eliminate the risk of what happened in Brazil,
792
01:21:04,560 --> 01:21:06,450
the Australian test bees
793
01:21:06,450 --> 01:21:08,930
are brought to an uninhabited island,
794
01:21:08,930 --> 01:21:11,333
where they'll undergo a stress test.
795
01:21:14,120 --> 01:21:17,610
If they pass the test they'll continue to be bred.
796
01:21:17,610 --> 01:21:19,763
Perhaps even for the world market.
797
01:21:21,890 --> 01:21:26,470
They might, of course, mutate into Frankenstein bees
798
01:21:26,470 --> 01:21:29,020
but, at least they won't do any harm,
799
01:21:29,020 --> 01:21:30,583
it's too far from the mainland.
800
01:21:32,900 --> 01:21:34,960
But maybe the bees on the mainland
801
01:21:34,960 --> 01:21:38,620
become diseased, and only the ones, here,
802
01:21:38,620 --> 01:21:40,433
on the island stay healthy.
803
01:21:41,540 --> 01:21:43,963
In that case I see Noah's Ark.
804
01:21:44,980 --> 01:21:47,563
(gentle music)
805
01:21:48,890 --> 01:21:50,307
Oh!
806
01:22:33,527 --> 01:22:36,110
(gentle music)
807
01:22:52,668 --> 01:22:55,835
(beekeepers laughing)
808
01:23:17,720 --> 01:23:19,910
We seem to be afraid of
809
01:23:19,910 --> 01:23:22,050
foreigners coming into the country,
810
01:23:22,050 --> 01:23:25,840
even though we're all immigrants here.
811
01:23:25,840 --> 01:23:28,690
And so the African bees came,
812
01:23:28,690 --> 01:23:30,060
they didn't have papers
813
01:23:30,060 --> 01:23:31,160
they didn't have permission,
814
01:23:31,160 --> 01:23:35,810
they didn't have visas, or even passports.
815
01:23:35,810 --> 01:23:37,660
And there was really nothing we could do to stop them.
816
01:23:37,660 --> 01:23:40,140
They're completely wild creatures.
817
01:23:40,140 --> 01:23:42,817
They have not been domesticated.
818
01:23:42,817 --> 01:23:45,683
They are as they have always been.
819
01:23:46,590 --> 01:23:48,763
And people were very frightened of that.
820
01:23:51,090 --> 01:23:55,470
And then, when I went to Brazil in 1995,
821
01:23:57,500 --> 01:24:00,730
I found that the country had completely
822
01:24:00,730 --> 01:24:03,690
embraced the African bee.
823
01:24:03,690 --> 01:24:08,190
That what we have been told about the African bees,
824
01:24:08,190 --> 01:24:10,700
that they didn't make honey,
825
01:24:10,700 --> 01:24:12,910
that they were not good pollinators,
826
01:24:12,910 --> 01:24:15,600
they were impossible to manage,
827
01:24:15,600 --> 01:24:18,860
I found that all those things were completely false.
828
01:24:18,860 --> 01:24:21,973
They can survive on very scarce resources.
829
01:24:22,960 --> 01:24:24,993
If I were a gambling person,
830
01:24:26,070 --> 01:24:29,220
I would bet on the survival of the African bees
831
01:24:29,220 --> 01:24:33,603
over, just about, any other species, so,
832
01:24:36,760 --> 01:24:40,860
so, I think they'll be here after we're gone.
833
01:24:44,260 --> 01:24:46,843
(solemn music)
834
01:24:52,156 --> 01:24:54,823
(bees buzzing)
835
01:25:43,340 --> 01:25:45,570
The bees that I took out from the roof
836
01:25:45,570 --> 01:25:48,650
did not like their new nest and so they left.
837
01:25:48,650 --> 01:25:49,543
They swarmed.
838
01:25:55,730 --> 01:25:58,000
They will find a limb on a tree
839
01:25:58,000 --> 01:26:00,500
or something like that where they can cluster
840
01:26:00,500 --> 01:26:01,893
to take care of the queen.
841
01:26:03,770 --> 01:26:06,810
From that cluster the bees will send out scout bees
842
01:26:06,810 --> 01:26:09,264
to look for a suitable nest site.
843
01:26:09,264 --> 01:26:11,931
(bees buzzing)
844
01:26:52,840 --> 01:26:55,380
If a scout bee finds a suitable nest site,
845
01:26:55,380 --> 01:26:58,660
she will come back to this cluster of bees
846
01:26:58,660 --> 01:27:00,950
and she will tell her nest mates
847
01:27:00,950 --> 01:27:02,333
about the very good site.
848
01:27:04,172 --> 01:27:06,839
(bees buzzing)
849
01:27:09,490 --> 01:27:13,500
And then, when they reach a consensus
850
01:27:13,500 --> 01:27:15,200
then they will all leave together.
851
01:27:17,433 --> 01:27:20,016
(solemn music)
852
01:27:22,327 --> 01:27:24,994
(bees buzzing)
853
01:28:34,690 --> 01:28:37,253
Not even a bear could get to those bees!
854
01:28:38,443 --> 01:28:41,026
(solemn music)
855
01:28:43,467 --> 01:28:46,134
(bees buzzing)
856
01:31:11,032 --> 01:31:13,615
(solemn music)
857
01:32:18,089 --> 01:32:20,672
(solemn music)
61952
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