Anand Varma's Photographic Journey into the Lives of Bees

Everyone loves a good TED talk, right? Well, there's a TED talk about bees! I was e-mailed the link to this absolutely fascinating video on a National Geographic photographer who was asked to document the first 21 days of a bee's life to illustrate how destructive the varroa mite has been to the bee population.

While watching this video, I was given a new insight into one of the issues that is causing the bee population to drop so dramatically: the Asian varroa mite. It is this deadly parasite that has caused the bee population to weaken over the first 21 days of a bee's life. They feed on the bees when they pupate, which is probably the most critical time of a bee's development.

As you can see in this picture, the varroa mite is tiny, only about the size of a pinhead. But they have weakened the bees and are causing them to die off in droves.

Despite this, there is hope. In the video, Anand Varma talks about his work in conjunction with UC Davis and in their breeding program to help the bees regain their strength. There have been some drawbacks with this invasive research, but work is being done to ensure that the bees can withstand the onslaught of these deadly invaders.

However, the big question is this: how can you tell if your backyard beehive has been infested with varroa mites? Stan Moulton, our beekeeper here at Bee Champions, gives great trainings on how to see if your hive has been infected. You can find those videos here, here and here.