Hundreds of bees wearing tiny numbered badges were released from the rooftops of a London university today in a bid to uncover their “secret lives” away from the hive.
Biologists from Queen Mary University of London glued the 2mm-wide weather-resistant tags on the backs of the worker bees and want Londoners to identify and photograph them for a competition.
Some 500 bumblebees and honeybees were released, and about 1,500 more are due to be sent off over the next two months as colonies mature.
Project leader Professor Lars Chittka, of the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said: “We hope it will help Londoners appreciate these bees as individuals with unique memories and unique flower preferences, that they have a memory of a garden because they keep coming back.”
Hives have been built on the roof of Queen Mary in Mile End for the workers to return to.
Prizes are awarded for the best photograph of a tagged bee on a flower, the highest number of bees and London’s most bee-friendly garden.
For more information go to savelondonbees.co.uk
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