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p r e s e n t e d b y Science a-z a d i v i s i o n o f L e a r n i n g A - Z

Scientists Search for Clues

to a Bee Mystery
Bees are very important to farmers and their
crops. Bees help plants make seeds. Then these
seeds grow into new plants.
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Last year, beekeepers saw something strange.

The bees were leaving their hives. But they
were not coming back! Sometimes, the bees
left their queen bee. That was strange. Bees
usually take good care of the queen.

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No one knows why the

bees left the hive, or
where they went.

Learning AZ All rights reserved.

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To find out what makes

bees leave their hives,
scientists studied fiftyone groups of bees.
See Bee Mystery on page 2

Writing Prompt:

Some groups left their hives, and some did not.

The scientists are not sure if the virus is what

makes the bees leave. There may be other
reasons. But for now, the virus is something
beekeepers and scientists are studying.
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Learning AZ All rights reserved.

A bee

Wasps
eat other insects
can sting many
times
dont make honey

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The scientists learned that the bees that left

their hives had a virus. The virus killed the bees.

Bees
eat nectar
can sting once
make honey

Continued from page 1

Photos bottom, left to right: iCLIPART.com; iStockphoto.com/Amit Erez; Morgan Rauscher/123RF; Stachu343/123RF
iStockphoto.com/Boris Katsman

Borut Gorenjak/123RF

Bee Mystery

Compare and Contrast

A wasp

Bees find pollen, fly back to their hive, and show other bees where the
pollen is.
3

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