May 20 is World Bee Day. It is a world-wide celebration of what has been declared the single most important animal on earth. It’s staggering to think of what they do for us and the planet. Around 70% of the world’s agriculture depends exclusively on bees for pollination and this doesn’t even cover what they […]
With National Pollinator Week behind us, it may be easy to focus on other issues and forget that pollinators need our help to bounce back. While many people only envision little honeybees when they think about pollinators, they couldn’t be a more diverse group of animals, including mammals, birds, insects, and even reptiles! Here […]
In economic terms, bees far outstrip butterflies and moths as pollinators. However, there are some plants that are exclusively pollinated by butterflies — especially some wildflowers and garden ornamentals — and several night-blooming species are specifically pollinated by hawkmoths. Butterflies and moths are members of the insect order “Lepidoptera” — the scaly-winged insects. In addition […]
