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Scientists identify culprit behind biggest-ever U.S. honey bee die-off

(www.science.org)
186 points pseudolus | 1 comments | 01 Jul 25 10:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.595s | source
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AdmiralAsshat ◴[01 Jul 25 14:47 UTC] No.44434420[source]▶
> U.S. beekeepers had a disastrous winter. Between June 2024 and January 2025, a full 62% of commercial honey bee colonies in the United States died, according to an extensive survey. It was the largest die-off on record, coming on the heels of a 55% die-off the previous winter.

Christ, do we even have any bees left at this point?

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1. milliams ◴[01 Jul 25 14:54 UTC] No.44434498[source]▶
It would need to be put in the context of what a normal annual die-off is. I expect it's not 0%, and perhaps it's normal for keepers to need to re-establish some fraction of their hives each year.

Of course, 50-60% sounds alarmingly high, but I don't know enough to be sure.

Actually, I just followed the link in the article (good job detailing their sources!) and it looks like 40% is pretty typical, but with large error bars. 62% is definitely high, but not as earth shattering as it first appears.