CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Thursday is World Bee Day — so designated by the United Nations to let people know that bees and other pollinators face some challenges. And Illinois is home to 500 species of bees.
Their habitat is being destroyed. They are killed by pesticides. Bees need help.
“Sometimes they can’t hack it anymore. But they’re going to give it a good go,” Paul CaraDonna, a professor at Northwestern University and a conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden, told WBBM Newsradio.
CaraDonna discussed the resilience of the rusty patched bumblebee — which is a federally listed endangered species.
“We’ve observed this… critically endangered bee foraging in the city. In fact, we observed a handful of workers at the Rogers Park Metra station, happily foraging about.,” CaraDonna said. “Meaning that, despite its sort of imperiled status and these dramatic range contractions it’s experienced, it’s able to hack it in some relatively harsh environments.”
Which, he said, is a good sign.