100,000 new animals at the zoo

[urbpan]

I can't tell you what zoo, but one zoo that I frequent recently received a shipment of 10 x 10,000 honeybees, which are being carefully dumped into their 10 hives in the photo above. It's unclear to me exactly why this was done, since the honeybees are not on exhibit. But it was kind of those involved to contact me, since they know I like insects.



I've been near beehives before, but I hadn't ever seen such a concentration of bees. The apiarist sprayed them with water before moving them, so make them more sluggish and less dangerous.


Some of the other people there were quite frightened, and I felt like I should get even closer to show that the bees were not going to hurt them. Probably I just looked like I was showing off, which I probably was on some level.

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i saw the most gorgeous, enormous carpenter bee flying over my driveway the other day. now i just have to make sure it's not making holes in my house....

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

They're very active today. Maggie dog is more effective at catching them than she with any other varmint.

[octogirlie.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of bees. O_O

[dragonwrites.livejournal.com]

I like this very much. My fiance just built a beehive. I wanted a bat box, but c'est la vie. We can use the pollinators (is that why they wanted 100,000 bees?). Maybe I'll get a bat box in May.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Maybe on some level they thought it would be good to have the pollinators, but this particular zoo doesn't really have anything that needs pollinating. Hopefully the neighborhood's gardeners appreciate it!

[m0053.livejournal.com]

Oh neat!

[ssorca19.livejournal.com]

Are they close to the public areas of the zoo? or is this like way off in some back corner of the zoo grounds? I think its very cool, but seems to be like this would open a huge liability for the zoo, having a larger number of bees around, no? I mean, sure, they don't generally want to hurt you, but more bees around more people seems like a recipe for more chances for people to take a swat at a bee and end up getting stung...

either way, great pics! I especially like the last one!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

They're way off from the public area. Some people were concerned as you are, with liability, but I personally don't think they present much increased risk. Honeybees are not very aggressive. If anything, zoos and other theme parks should eliminate sugary treats from concessions, since these attract yellow jackets, which are very aggressive and can sting multiple times each.

[belen1974.livejournal.com]

i would much rather pay for fresh honey than worry about yellow jackets. do you think vermont would have such a zoo/theme park?

omg you should open a chicken/pit bull/boston terrier/trespassing cats/guinea pig petting zoo.

i can help with spanish signage:

aqui esta el jim.
el muerde.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Ace. Maybe as pollinators for zoo plants/food for insectivores?

[iheartoothecae.livejournal.com]

Makes complete sense to me; if I had my own zoo, I would probably fill it with bugs too. <3