The whole world has a fragile balance. Plants count on insects and birds to transfer the pollen in order for the plants to reproduce, while insects and birds get nectar to survive. But not many people enjoy being visited by bees, knowing they can be stung. Unfortunately, most people also fear bumblebees as well, even though they don’t sting.
Well, this woman definitely has a story she’ll never forget her whole life. It started one day when she came across a bumblebee, and ended up making a very unusual friend…
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#20. An Ordinary Day
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It was an ordinary day, and Fiona Presly was lying in her garden enjoying the bright summer sun in her home in Scotland. Suddenly, she saw something weird on top of her feet, and when she had a closer look, she discovered it was a huge bumblebee. The poor insect looked confused, so Fiona scooped it up…
#19. The Queen
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After she inspected the insect closely, Fiona realized she was actually holding the queen of the hive. Therefore, the woman decided to place the insect on a flower so that nobody would step on her. But then she noticed something unusual about this insect… something was missing!
#18. Wingless Insect
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Unfortunately, Fiona realized why the bee looked so confused. It had no wings, so it couldn’t fly back to the hive. Fiona didn’t really know what to do nor how to help her, so the first thing she did was to place the bumblebee on top of a flower. However, when she went back a few hours later to check on the insect, she realized the queen hadn’t moved at all.
#17. Staying Alive
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Then, Fiona realized she could help the injured insect. She went back to the house to fetch some sugar water and thought what else would be of help. But while she was walking towards the bumblebee to give her the sugar water, she looked at the sky and realized a storm coming. This meant she had to take the insect inside her house, or else she could drown.
#16. Bad Weather
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Fiona took the insect to the kitchen and looked after her as if she was her own daughter. “I took her inside that night, kept her warm and fed her more,” said Fiona. She figured that if the next day was sunny enough, she could then take the insect outside again. But the weather was still too rough for the wingless insect…
#15. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust
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The woman let the bumblebee sleep inside, but she also realized she didn’t know too much about this species. Therefore, Fiona called the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to gather more information on her queen. The specialists believed that the bee might have had a virus in its early life, and had lost her wings as a result of that. But that’s not all!
#14. Slim Chances
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According to the entomologists at the foundation, the virus could have affected the proper growth of its wings. As a result, given its inability to fly, the bee’s chances of survival were very low. But then Fiona decided to do something amazing for her new friend.
#13. The Queen Bee
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Meanwhile, Fiona kept taking care of her bumblebee. She even gave it a name: Bee, and she even made a garden for her. For the bumblebee to get pollen, she needed to walk from flower to flower. Therefore, Fiona made an enclosed garden with flowers just for her new pet.
#12. Bee, The Spoiled Pet
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Every single day, Fiona would come to see how Bee was doing. When the queen looked a bit down, Fiona would come and give her some sugar water to energize her tiny pet. She even placed a net on top of her miniature garden, as you can see in the picture above! But then, something unbelievable happened…
#11. A Grateful Queen
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Fiona would check her wingless friend every day, but in time, the queen bee started to go out and visit Fiona on her own! It seemed that the bee was looking forward to seeing the woman who had saved her and cared for her.
#10. A Loving Bond
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According to Fiona, the bumblebee would walk toward her and crawl on top of her hand. “She seemed so happy to see me. It made me stop and think—there’s something going on here”, Fiona said. The woman was truly amazed to see that the bee recognized her caretaker and that she deliberately went out to find her almost every day.
#9. A Sociable Creature
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Fiona remembered how confused she looked the first day she found the insect, and she was surprised to see how much her behavior had changed! “It was like her whole being came to life. I think she liked the fact that she wasn’t alone,” said Fiona. And bees do thrive in a hive, where they have constant company. So perhaps Bee was longing that company, even if it wasn’t of her own species.
#8. Mutual Love
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Not only did Bee love spending time with Fiona, but the woman enjoyed it as well. As Fiona confessed in an interview: “We were quite comfortable with each other. There were things going on with this bee that were quite something“. Never on earth would she have expected to make such an unusual friend!
#7. A Long Life
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Usually, queen bumblebees build a nest during the spring and summer and mate, starting their own colony. Then, they usually die in early autumn, living less than a year. But believe it or not, Fiona’s Bee lived longer than that! Keep on reading, cause the end of this story is truly touching!
#6. Resting On Fiona’s Hand
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Bee lived for nearly an entire year, but Fiona knew that she would ultimately pass away. One day, just when winter was coming, Bee was sleeping on Fiona’s hand when she passed away. “I was sad when she died, but I knew it was going to happen”, Fiona said.
#5. An Old Queen
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Fiona said that Bee lived a longer life than most bumblebees and that it had been very special to stay with such a loving creature. One year may not sound like a lot, but in bee ears, it’s way above average! Fiona wondered whether the care she had given Bee had impacted on her lifespan.
#4. Bee Was Buried
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Fiona buried Bee in her garden, together with her favorite flowers. She also admitted in an interview that the way she views insencts has changed significantly ever since.
“It’s changed my perception of what insects are like. I think there’s an awful lot we don’t know.’
#3. An Interesting Observation
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Behavioral ecologist Lars Chittka said that a unique emotional attachment had formed between the bee and Fiona, and this could have had an impact on her life expectancy.
“Sometimes it takes an outsider’s careful observations, such as Mrs. Presly’s, to generate fresh views and prompt important questions“, Chittka said.
#2. Human-Insect Interaction
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Scientists will surely have something new to learn from Fiona’s experiences with the bumblebee. It’s clear that they formed an amazing and unique bond, so this case could pave the way for further investigations regarding the ways insects interact with humans.
#1. Flourishing Friendships
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If it wouldn’t have been for that day of gardening, Fiona never would’ve discovered Bee. That day marked the beginning of a beautiful and unexpected friendship that has changed everyone’s perspective on bumblebees, that’s for sure!
