Caught by the River

Birth of a Bee

20th May 2022

In celebration of World Bee Day, watch as Anand Varma condenses the first 21 days of a bee’s life into 60 seconds.

Filmed at the Harry Laidlaw Honeybee Research Facility at UC Davis with the help of Billy Synk. Music by Rob Moose.

The World Bee Day website states that today, every third spoonful of food depends on pollination.

Boštjan Noč, initiator of World Bee Day and president of the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association, is quoted as saying, upon the launch of World Bee Day in 2017: “To talk about reducing world hunger without ensuring conditions for the existence of bees and other pollinators is to pull the wool over people’s eyes. It is time for everyone to listen to bees, in particular leaders and decision-makers. From now on, 20 May will be a worldwide celebration of bees and beekeepers. I believe that with the proclamation of World Bee Day, the world will begin to think more broadly about bees, in particular in the context of ensuring the conditions for their survival, and thus for the survival of the human race.”