Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Bumblebees Extinct In UK

After being last seen in the south of England in 1998, and declared extinct in 2000, the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus) is going to be reintroduced, from stocks reimported from New Zealand, after they were originally exported there in the late 1800s to pollinate red clover (also imported), which was used as cattle feed.

The first bees, crucial to the farming economy, may be released into the wild by 2010. (England has seen a loss of 98% of its wildflower meadows in the past 70 years.) Read the entire article.

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