PULLMAN, Wash. – When it comes time for bumble bees to find a home, it’s pretty much up to the queen bee.
That’s what I found out from my friends Rachel Olsson and Elias Bloom. They are graduate student researchers here at Washington State University and really curious about bees, too.
Like you, we enjoy watching bees in their natural habitat. They buzz and zip from flower to flower, sipping nectar with their hairy tongues. Bloom said bumble bees are actually pretty social. They live in colonies with dozens to hundreds of fellow bumble bees.
As part of their research, Bloom and Olsson are helping citizen scientists collect information about these important pollinators and other kinds of bees.
Read all of this answer from Dr. Universe, see a video and find out how you can participate in WSU bee research at https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/2017/03/06/bumble-bees-live/.
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