Bumble Bee - Blog Posts
@moonthemagical look it's bees
Okay, entomology brain is annoyed by a Tumblr ad
Specifically, this one. First, Albert Einstein never said that.
Secondly, and more importantly, that is NOT a honey bee, or even a bee at all. That is a bee fly, a very important, very cute pollinator. However! They have parasitoid larvae! This means that they lay their eggs in the larvae of other bugs. Those eggs hatch, and those larvae eat the bug they’re in from the inside out. Sounds horrible, but it’s the way of things and I cannot understate how important these guys are.
The reason I’m annoyed about the picture of choice isn’t even that they didn’t picture a bee (not even in the right order- bees are hymenopterans. Flies are diptera.) What’s really grinding my absolute gears about the choice here? Bee flies parasitize bee larva.
If you’re going to use the wrong picture, at least don’t use the picture of something that actively kills what you’re trying to protect instead of the animal you’re protecting.
Also, honeybees, Apis mellifera, don’t need protection. They’re fine. They’re invasive in North America, even. Humans take care of them just fine. I’m a beekeeper, and I love them, but that’s not where our efforts should be. We should be trying to protect native bees, there are a whole bunch that I bet you’ve never heard of that need help.
Anyway, rant over. Sorry, I just could not let that one go.
I can’t remember what inspired me to do this because I spent roughly 30mins a day for a week on it, so by the time I finished I forgot how it started. One thing I do know is that it is super duper cute :3
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