Helpful Honeybees

TFK Kid Reporter Mia Muniz learns about a sweet mission at SeaWorld Orlando

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TFK Kid Reporter Mia Muniz learns how honeybees are helping heal marine animals at SeaWorld Orlando.

I used to run away in fear when I heard the buzzing of a bee. But after spending a day at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida and getting up close and personal with these insects, bees seem less intimidating to me.

SeaWorld is on a mission to help bees. It brings these insects to the park, where they are used to help heal injured animals such as turtles and manatees. While at the park, I also found out why bees are important and how to collect honey.

Meeting the Bees

After I arrived at the theme park, Mark Russell, the animal park’s director of horticulture, introduced me to a swarm bucket. A swarm bucket is what SeaWorld uses as a safe temporary habitat for honeybees. Once the bees are safely in the swarm bucket, the bucket is transported to SeaWorld’s bee yard.

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Mark Russell, the park’s director of horticulture, shows off a bottle of honey collected from honeybees at SeaWorld Orlando.

At the bee yard, Russell had me suit up in a special suit to protect me from any stings. I was a bit nervous but Russell explained that bees are not naturally aggressive. “They are defensive in certain situations,” he said. “They will defend their colony and brood, but it’s not aggression and they won’t actively go after somebody.” Once I suited up, Russell then demonstrated how to use a smoker. A smoker is a tool that uses the smoke of burning wood to calm down the bees. The bees sense the smoke and begin to slowly move out of the hive. This made it easy to get up close and personal with the bees.

SeaWorld started working with honeybees in 2014. By relocating the bees, SeaWorld is contributing to worldwide bee pollination and conservation efforts. These efforts aim to ensure that bees continue to thrive and pollinate plants that bear fruits, vegetables and nuts for humans to eat. Since 2014, swarm buckets at SeaWorld have helped save 52 honeybee swarms, or more than 1 million honeybees, according to Russell.

Kid Reporter

Mia Muniz

SeaWorld has a special location where they extract honey from the comb. With some help from Russell, I was able to decap a fresh comb. Decapping honey is when a thin layer of wax is removed from the comb in order to get to the honey. The honey is extracted using an extracting machine. After bottling up some honey, we met with Dr. Lara Croft to learn about how this honey is helping heal injured marine animals at the park.

The Healing Power of Honey

Dr. Croft is a senior veterinarian at SeaWorld. According to Dr. Croft, honey is used regularly to treat injured animals. Not only is honey sweet, it also holds healing properties, which helps treat injuries such as cuts. “Honey has an antibacterial agent that works really well on wounds,” she said. “It promotes healing by sealing in the good tissue fluid that has enzymes and proteins." The honey extracted at SeaWorld is kept refrigerated for about two weeks before it is ready to be used by the veterinarians. The raw honey is helping to heal fractured turtle shells, as well as sea birds with skin lacerations and manatees that have been struck by boats.

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Dr. Lara Croft, a veterinarian at SeaWorld, and her staff demonstrate how honey is applied to the fractured shell of a rescued sea turtle. Once healed, the turtle will be returned to the ocean.

Dr. Croft offered a first hand look at one of her current patients, an injured sea turtle with a crushed shell. She used the honey to coat the wounds and said that after a month or so they hoped this sea turtle would heal and be ready to head back out into the ocean.

Contrary to what many may believe, I found out from my trip to SeaWorld that honeybees are not simply waiting around to sting people. They perform a task that is vital to our ecosystem and survival. They help keep plants and crops alive and the honey produced has many healing properties. No wonder bees are always busy working!

So how can we help protect the honeybee population? According to Russell one simple way is to be careful when using pesticides, as it could be toxic to the bees and plants they extract nectar from. Starting a garden is also a great way to help, “Planting plants that bees like is a great way to help pollinators like bees,” Russell added. Make sure to remember everything bees do the next time you have the urge to squash one!

How do honey bees help people? What should we do to help them?