He studies the imprisoned creature through a magnifying
lens built into the vacuum. He looks for the telltale markings.
Is it “that bee”—the one on his shirt? The one he seeks? Is it a
Franklin’s?
Again and again, with each bee he finds, the answer is no. What
has happened to Franklin’s bumblebee?
Because the chubby bee with the round black face and the
U
on
its back was so rare, Forest Service officials wondered whether it
should be listed as endangered. An endangered species is one at
risk of going extinct, or completely disappearing from Earth.
The US Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects animals and
plants in the United States that are in danger of becoming extinct.
When the US government adds a species to the endangered species
list, federal agencies must conserve and protect the species and its
habitat—the environment in which the plant or animal normally
lives. Agencies must prohibit actions that would harm the species,
such as hunting it or destroying forests. The act has saved several
animals from extinction. The bald eagle, peregrine falcon, brown
pelican, and American alligator all came dangerously close to
extinction but rebounded with protection from the Endangered
DISAPPEARING BEES
The story of the disappearance of Franklin’s bumblebee begins
in the 1990s. That’s when US Forest Service officials approached
Thorp, who was then a professor at the University of California–
Davis, and asked him to monitor the species. At the time,
Bombus
franklini
(the bee’s scientific name) had the smallest geographic
range of any of the world’s 250 species of bumblebees. The rare bee
lived only in southern Oregon and Northern California, between
the Cascade Range and the Pacific Ocean. Its entire range could fit
inside an oval just 200 miles (322 km) north to south and 70 miles
(113 km) east to west.
8
Where Have All the Bees Gone?
