Aug 12, 2026 · 34 min · 10 segments
In Episode 5 of Cat Among the Penguins, Jenny and Becky revisit honeybees. In Episode 2 we heard how honeybees are a domestic animal - farmed by people for agricultural purposes. But this time, we…
Rebecca NesbitHost
Jenny HickmanHostI think about conserving evolutionary reservoirs, if you like, of, uh, genetic information and there's a pool of represented by free-living honeybees and then different lineages of managed honeybees, and by conserving the free-living honeybee population, we might maintain some of those unique genetic combinations that have evolved.
Today we're asking the question, are free-living honeybees a conservation priority or a threat? And I'm really excited by this episode because it feels like there's such a disconnect between conventional thinking that's often held by policymakers and the story that's emerging from community groups with scientists producing such interesting new research that's challenging the way we've thought about these free-living bees.
Read the full transcript.
Create an account to read the whole episode, search across every transcript, and follow the shows you care about.
I think about conserving evolutionary reservoirs, if you like, of, uh, genetic information and there's a pool of represented by free-living honeybees and then different lineages of managed honeybees, and by conserving the free-living honeybee population, we might maintain some of those unique genetic combinations that have evolved.
Today we're asking the question, are free-living honeybees a conservation priority or a threat? And I'm really excited by this episode because it feels like there's such a disconnect between conventional thinking that's often held by policymakers and the story that's emerging from community groups with scientists producing such interesting new research that's challenging the way we've thought about these free-living bees.
