Season 1
Silence of the Bees is an American documentary created for the programme Nature by Doug Shultz which provides an in-depth investigation of an alarming, world-wide die-off of honeybees.
The documentary originally aired in the USA on PBS on 28 October, 2007. It is an hour long.
Silence of the Bees originally aired in South Africa on DStv's Nat Geo Wild channel on Tuesday 15 April 2008, at 22h00.
It aired on DStv's National Geographic Channel on Thursday 31 July 2008, at 22h00.
Repeats
Friday 1 August: 01h00, 04h00, 10h00, 15h00
Synopsis
Scientists say we may be facing a global catastrophe. In the last six months up to 80% of honeybees in the US have disappeared, seemingly into thin air. Now the nightmare has spread to Europe.
If the honey bee wasn’t around to pollinate the planet’s flowers, we would have few fruits and vegetables, and many of our most important crops would disappear.
But disappear is exactly what the world’s bees are doing. Are bees the "canary in the coal mine", the first signs of a massive ecological collapse?
Bees are in crisis, and scientists, beekeepers and farmers alike now face a race against time to figure out what to do about it.
Eye-popping, macroscopic photography will get up close and personal on the crucial role bees play in our ecosystem. Explore divergent theories on the causes behind their rapid disappearance.