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  • The Lives of Bees

  • The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild
  • By: Thomas D. Seeley
  • Narrated by: William Hope
  • Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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The Lives of Bees

By: Thomas D. Seeley
Narrated by: William Hope
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Publisher's Summary

How the lives of wild honey bees offer vital lessons for saving the world’s managed bee colonies

Humans have kept honey bees in hives for millennia, yet only in recent decades have biologists begun to investigate how these industrious insects live in the wild. The Lives of Bees is Thomas Seeley’s captivating story of what scientists are learning about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees living outside the beekeeper’s hive - and how wild honey bees may hold the key to reversing the alarming die-off of the planet’s managed honey bee populations. 

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science, as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and reveals how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping - Darwinian Beekeeping - which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past 30 million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He tells beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees. 

Engaging and deeply personal, The Lives of Bees reveals how we can become better custodians of honey bees and make use of their resources in ways that enrich their lives, as well as our own.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Thomas D. Seeley (P)2019 Princeton University Press

Critic Reviews

"A wealth of information about honeybees based on decades of scientific research." (Kirkus)

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Outstanding depth and breadth

I loved this book. So much further research will be stimulated by the widely researched content.

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Every beekeeper should listen to this

I am a beginner beekeeper & this book is just awesome.
Factual & very easy listening it has helped ease the learning curve while other avenues under lockdown & set me up to get the most out of other learning opportunities.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.