A beekeeping setup with several frames covered in bees buzzes with life. An equipment smoker sits nearby, surrounded by grass and dirt near the hive. The scene captures the hive's busy activity as honeybees thrive in their natural environment.
A large swarm of honeybees clustered around a tree branch, buzzing busily near their hive. Many bees flew nearby, their wings a blur against the lush greenery that highlights their industrious work.
A person with a red beard leans on a table outdoors, surrounded by blurred moving objects resembling bees near their hive. There's a black cloth-covered object on the table. The background features green foliage under a clear sky.

Secrets of the Hive

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 50 min·Completed

'Secrets of the Hive' dives into the global bee crisis, uncovering diverse bee species and research aimed at saving our crops and tackling deadly varroa mites.

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Genre
Nature & Wildlife
Science
Duration
1 × 50 min
Definition
HD
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
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Synopsis

A third of what we eat is pollinated by bees – in fact more or less by one bee species: the western honeybee. A loyal companion in the production of our crops for centuries, this little insect seems to have been overburdened. Around the world bee populations have suffered dramatic losses over the last decades. The reasons for these mysterious bee die-offs are unclear, but experts agree that the varroa mite is among the prime suspects. These parasitic insects specialise in sucking the blood of bees and bee larvae, destroying bee hives wherever they appear.

The question is: who will pollinate our crops in the future? Researchers follow two ways to find an answer to this question.

One way out of the pollination crisis could be by beating the deadly varroa mite. ‘Killer bees’, a result of inbreeding between European honeybees and African bees, have developed a formidable defense against the mites. So maybe killer bees are our best chance against bee extinction – except they are also very dangerous to men and other bees alike. Can the killer bees be tamed?

But there also exists a rich and diverse variety of native bees around the world, most of which have been ignored until today. Thousands of solitary and wild bee species that are hardly known to science may become our future pollinators.

However, some of them pollinate only one specific plant – for instance, squash bees live in almost poetic symbiosis with the squash plant only. But others could take over: with their special ‘buzz pollination technique’ bumblebees pollinate flowers that are too narrow for any type of bee to crawl into them. They even take care of sunflowers, even though the bumblebee’s offspring’s health doesn’t agree with them at all.

The time has come to look closely at all the bees out there and understand the biology of each species. ‘Secrets of the Hive’ joins researchers on three continents and discovers the beauty of an unknown universe of insect life.

We dive deep into this bee dilemma and present various research approaches and possible solutions.

Team

Written and directed by Dennis Wells
Executive producers Andrea Gastgeb, Sabine Holzer
Production companies Produced by Terra Mater Factual Studios and taglicht media in association with Smithsonian Channel

Awards & Recognitions

New York, USA New York Festivals Silver World Medal (Category: Environment & Ecology) 2016
Vaasa, Finland Wildlife Vaasa International Nature Film Festival Special Mention (Category: Science) 2016
Abbeville, France Festival de l'Oiseau et de la Nature Nomination (Category: Birds/Wildlife) 2016
Eckernförde, Germany Green Screen Festival Best Ecology-Film 2015
Bratislava, Slovakia IFF Ekotopfilm - Envirofilm Prize of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic 2015
Lihula, Estonia Matsalu Nature Film Festival Best Photography Award in Category "Man and Nature" 2015
Ludwigsburg, Germany NaturVision Filmfestival German Biodiversity Film Award & NaturVision Youth Award 2015
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