大象传媒

Plants and animals can have special relationships.

The lengths to which some plants go to attract and exploit the bee population are often bizarre and complex.

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.