1
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(bees buzzing)

2
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(solemn music)

3
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(footsteps thudding)

4
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(bees buzzing)

5
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(ax thudding)
(bees buzzing)

6
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(bees buzzing)

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(door creaking)

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00:04:55,230 --> 00:04:57,313
The bees fed our family.

9
00:04:59,700 --> 00:05:02,213
They were a part of my grandfather's cannery.

10
00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:05,810
They pollinated the raspberries,

11
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pears and apricots and his orchards

12
00:05:08,780 --> 00:05:10,223
and also the cucumbers.

13
00:05:14,390 --> 00:05:17,655
I loved my grandfather for all the animals he had,

14
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horses, dogs, birds, even a roebuck.

15
00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:25,333
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,

19
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I could hear the bees buzzing.

20
00:05:49,633 --> 00:05:51,280
But I didn't know that I was

21
00:05:51,280 --> 00:05:53,513
watching the flowers having sex.

22
00:05:55,180 --> 00:05:57,050
The plants, my grandfather explained,

23
00:05:57,050 --> 00:05:58,573
are rooted to the ground.

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They can't run across the field and hug each other.

25
00:06:02,470 --> 00:06:04,743
But they can't have children on their own.

26
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What they need is a messenger of love, a bee.

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00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,143
To attract a bee, the plants produce sweet nectar.

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The bee drinks from one flower and flies to the next,

29
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taking along male pollen on its fur.

30
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(bees buzzing)

31
00:06:26,570 --> 00:06:28,400
So, while looking for food,

32
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it pollinates plant after plant.

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00:06:32,310 --> 00:06:35,313
And each plant starts to bear fruit.

34
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(gentle music)

35
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My grandfather was a patriarch

36
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,170
of gardens and bees, people and machines.

37
00:06:47,170 --> 00:06:50,313
He was fascinated by how everything interacted.

38
00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,200
But the bees are in trouble, now.

39
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A few years ago they started dying.

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Not just our bees.

41
00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:02,690
They're dying all over the world.

42
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The news is full of reports.

43
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They say it's a mystery.

44
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I take to the road, to find out why.

45
00:07:15,875 --> 00:07:17,500
The bloom is nearly full now.

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It's just such a gorgeous time of year to be out here.

47
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I mean it's just beautiful.

48
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And no one sees this.

49
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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)

52
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Can you hear that?

53
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That's the sound of money.

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Fresh printed money.

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Bees and trees.

56
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Nice.

57
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Ladies, how are you today?

58
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Ah, you're busy.

59
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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.

62
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And right there,

63
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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.

76
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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.

81
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It's sort of a Faustian deal

82
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that we made with the almond growers.

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00:09:38,330 --> 00:09:40,210
We know, going in,

84
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that there are risks and opportunities,

85
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in the almond orchards.

86
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You know, they pay a lot of money.

87
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I mean, you know, it's no mystery.

88
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We've got 4,000 hives here at $150 a hive, that's $600,000.

89
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To me that's real money.

90
00:09:58,476 --> 00:10:01,476
(airplane whirling)

91
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That might be Joe Mack.

92
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He might be flying down to Bakersfield today.

93
00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:33,480
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,

97
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it's higher than that.

98
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It may be close to 90%.

99
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(machines creaking)

100
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It's not commercial to grow almonds on a very small scale.

101
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I know of no reason why that system

102
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will not be sustainable for the long term.

103
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There's nothing that I've seen,

104
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in my 35 years in the industry,

105
00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:09,890
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.

123
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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)

126
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(solemn music)

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Inside the hive the bees hand over

128
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the nectar to their sisters,

129
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who chew on it, until it turns into honey,

130
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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,

133
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and store it as a protein reserve.

134
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But the returning bees bring back even more information.

135
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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.

146
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It was so hard to comprehend their geometry.

147
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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.

153
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They already know a food source.

154
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But receive information from another bee

155
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about a second, perhaps better, feeding site.

156
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What to do?

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(bee buzzing)

158
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(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)

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00:15:43,207 --> 00:15:48,207
(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)

160
00:16:06,012 --> 00:16:08,512
(bee buzzing)

161
00:16:10,192 --> 00:16:12,859
(radar beeping)

162
00:16:16,702 --> 00:16:21,702
(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)

163
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(bee buzzing)
(radar beeping)

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She's a lovely little insect.

165
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Very tolerant.

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Not very smart, but really tolerant.

167
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(bees buzzing)

168
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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.

172
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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

175
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because if we leave the bees here, they'll starve.

176
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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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00:18:05,815 --> 00:18:07,617
Okay.

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00:18:07,617 --> 00:18:09,681
(speaks in foreign language)

181
00:18:09,681 --> 00:18:14,681
Thank you.

182
00:18:22,532 --> 00:18:25,453
He's starting from the other ribbon.

183
00:18:27,637 --> 00:18:30,590
So maybe he'll go a little ways away.

184
00:18:30,590 --> 00:18:32,380
If they'll just not spray the bees,

185
00:18:32,380 --> 00:18:33,733
that's great, you know?

186
00:18:38,580 --> 00:18:39,413
That's great.

187
00:18:41,110 --> 00:18:41,960
'Cause it really,

188
00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,253
you know, ideally they'd spray at night,

189
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when the bees are in.

190
00:18:49,020 --> 00:18:52,823
By the time the material is dry, and isn't so lethal,

191
00:18:54,130 --> 00:18:55,660
it's the next day.

192
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If they'd just spray it at night.

193
00:18:57,700 --> 00:19:00,960
But, you know, you can't see at night.

194
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They don't know where they are.

195
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These fields are massive, they get lost.

196
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So, they're going to do what they're going to do.

197
00:19:12,890 --> 00:19:14,230
It doesn't kill the bees.

198
00:19:14,230 --> 00:19:16,590
But it repels the bees.

199
00:19:16,590 --> 00:19:20,233
If after this material has dried on the bloom,

200
00:19:22,030 --> 00:19:25,090
the bees bring that material back to the colony

201
00:19:25,090 --> 00:19:26,730
and feed it to the babies,

202
00:19:26,730 --> 00:19:30,210
19 days later we see an impact on the brood.

203
00:19:30,210 --> 00:19:35,210
We see brood die-off and it's the fungicide at work.

204
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:37,645
Pretty much everybody knows it.

205
00:19:37,645 --> 00:19:40,562
(machine rumbling)

206
00:19:45,830 --> 00:19:47,950
That's the only two motivations

207
00:19:47,950 --> 00:19:50,183
in life my friends, greed and fear.

208
00:19:51,170 --> 00:19:54,990
I don't know how to shrink a business

209
00:19:54,990 --> 00:19:57,690
or a lifestyle and be happy.

210
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That's not in my DNA.

211
00:20:00,190 --> 00:20:02,733
It's like, we're capitalists, we wanna grow.

212
00:20:05,750 --> 00:20:09,183
Total global domination. (laughs)

213
00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:15,183
(solemn music)

214
00:21:06,745 --> 00:21:09,328
(bees buzzing)

215
00:21:38,121 --> 00:21:40,409
(bees buzzing)

216
00:21:40,409 --> 00:21:43,159
(birds chirping)

217
00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:08,275
(speaking in foreign language)

218
00:24:08,275 --> 00:24:10,570
Mating in the air with drones

219
00:24:10,570 --> 00:24:12,440
from other colonies,

220
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,510
not in the hive with the bee's brothers,

221
00:24:15,510 --> 00:24:19,821
is an ingenious way of protecting against incest.

222
00:24:19,821 --> 00:24:21,550
(solemn music)

223
00:24:21,550 --> 00:24:25,693
The queen is the mother of all 50,000 bees in the hive.

224
00:24:26,870 --> 00:24:29,600
She lays up to 2,000 eggs a day,

225
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,073
the equivalent of her own body mass.

226
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,750
The other bees tend to her needs,

227
00:24:35,750 --> 00:24:38,327
care for her, feed and clean her.

228
00:24:41,340 --> 00:24:44,723
When she dies, the bees must raise a new queen.

229
00:24:45,950 --> 00:24:48,663
The process is risky and takes a whole month.

230
00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:53,360
The queen can lay infertile eggs

231
00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:56,013
that develop into drones, male bees,

232
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or fertile eggs from which female, worker bees emerge.

233
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,220
The eggs hatch into larvae,

234
00:25:05,220 --> 00:25:08,653
which are fed by the bees with nectar and pollen.

235
00:25:09,850 --> 00:25:11,683
Then, they seal the lid.

236
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The larva pupates,

237
00:25:15,530 --> 00:25:19,225
and three weeks later a worker bee emerges.

238
00:25:19,225 --> 00:25:21,808
(solemn music)

239
00:25:25,490 --> 00:25:29,113
The fat, male drones take three days longer.

240
00:25:30,420 --> 00:25:33,970
They'll be fed their whole life long by the worker bees,

241
00:25:33,970 --> 00:25:37,163
in order to build up their strength for the daily flights.

242
00:25:38,090 --> 00:25:40,880
They leave every afternoon, around 2:00 p.m.,

243
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,447
in the hope of meeting a princess mid-air.

244
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Those who don't get a chance, on the honeymoon flight,

245
00:25:48,860 --> 00:25:51,253
are killed by the worker bees in the fall.

246
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,732
In winter, drones would just be useless mouths to feed.

247
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(bees buzzing)

248
00:26:59,300 --> 00:27:01,750
My grandfather's honey is not a gift

249
00:27:01,750 --> 00:27:03,463
from the bees, after all.

250
00:27:05,850 --> 00:27:09,650
My grandfather steals the honey from the bees,

251
00:27:09,650 --> 00:27:13,453
and gives them sugar water to store for the winter, instead.

252
00:27:14,340 --> 00:27:17,120
Like the glass beads the Indians received

253
00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:18,963
in payment for their gold.

254
00:27:20,070 --> 00:27:21,710
Even more ingeniously,

255
00:27:21,710 --> 00:27:26,020
grandfather manipulates them by breeding queens,

256
00:27:26,020 --> 00:27:29,283
that increase the bees' docility and diligence.

257
00:27:30,460 --> 00:27:33,630
More profit, fewer stings.

258
00:27:33,630 --> 00:27:35,600
If you want to command the bees

259
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:37,453
you have to command the queen.

260
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She's the key.

261
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,403
The bees decide when they want a new queen.

262
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And build up a special cell for her.

263
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Before the princess hatches,

264
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the old queen swarms out with the old bees,

265
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and leaves the hive to the younger generation.

266
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The colony turns into two.

267
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Breeders interfere with this process.

268
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They take the queen away,

269
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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?
<v ->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!
<v ->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.
<v ->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.
<v ->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!
<v ->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?
<v ->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.
<v ->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)