Activity 1: Bee Informed

One of the most important, but least talked about, animals in New Zealand is the bumblebee. It was first introduced to New Zealand in 1885 to help pollinate a special plant called the ‘Red Clover.’ Today, bumblebees do many other important jobs, including the pollination of greenhouses and orchard crops. If the bees did not pollinate the plants, they would not survive.

For this activity, we would like you to bee-come detectives and to learn more about the mysterious, and often ignored, bumblebee. We will provide you with five sentences about bumblebees from the NZ Bumblebee Conservation Trust website and it is your job to fill in the blanks with the missing information about bees. Choose the phrase/word that makes the most sense from the list at the bottom. (Each phrase/word can only be used once).

To earn full points for this activity you must type all five sentences and then fill in the blanks for each one. Post the completed sentences on your blog.

Unbee-lievable Facts about Bumblebees

• The word ‘bumblebee’ is a compound word (bumble + bee). The word ‘bumble’ means to Hum, Buzz, Drone.
• Bumblebees can fly very quickly. They can reach ground speeds of 54 kilometres per hour (km/h).
• Bumblebees are very strong! They carry up to 90 percent of their body weight in food with them to avoid starvation.
• Bumblebees can do more work and carry more pollen than other bees, including honeybees. In fact, they can do up to 50 times as much work as a normal honeybee.
• The number of bumblebees is declining in New Zealand due to a number of factors, including the removal of wildflowers and flowering trees, habitat loss, and extensive use of pesticides.