大象传媒

It's often said that every third bite of food in our diet relies on bees.

For a Hadza hunter during the honey season, that figure may be an underestimate.

Bees are like oxygen - ubiquitous, essential and, for the most part, unseen. While we might overlook them, they lie at the heart of relationships that bind the human and natural worlds. Dr Thor Hanson continues on the journey that began 125 million years ago, when a wasp first dared to feed pollen to its young.

From honeybees and bumbles to lesser-known diggers, miners, leafcutters, and masons, bees have long been central to our harvests, our mythologies, and our very existence. They have given us sweetness and light, the beauty of flowers and as much as a third of the foodstuffs we eat. And, alarmingly, they are at risk of disappearing.

Read by Elliot Levey.

Abridged by Polly Coles.

Producer: Clive Brill

A Brill production for 大象传媒 Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2018.