5 ms·

Hi, why would beekeeping harm wild species please?

jessaustin 4y ago
Domesticated bees might eat the same food that wild species eat.
jamal-kumar 4y ago
They spread diseases like mites to the wild bee species chiefly, as well as out-competing them for food. Details are in the parent comment and in the article but if watching a video is more captive of your attention here's a report on Deutsche Welle which I found pretty good and more to the point. [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSYgDssQUtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSYgDssQUtA
Hemospectrum 4y ago
GGP contains a quote from the article explaining why. To summarize, honeybees compete with wild bees for food, and can spread illnesses that they can’t defend against.
michael1999 4y ago
For the same reasons that domesticating any animal leads to the extinction of the wild variant - habitat displacement - competition for food - disease
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- synu 4y ago
  Aren’t there still some wild dogs, cats, horses, sheep, goats, and everything else humans have domesticated? Or are you being very specific about what went extinct, or maybe predicting future extinctions (in which case I’m curious more about what you mean?) Edit: sorry if the question came off as rude and that’s why it was downvoted, I was sincerely curious what you meant.
  - User23 4y ago
    The aurochs[1] has sadly been hunted to extinction. The last one was killed in Poland during the 17th century. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs
    - Maursault 4y ago
      If there weren't hunters around to hunt them to extinction, they would have depleted natural resources and starved and been a lethal danger to people on future roads and highways. Hunters are entitled to our eternal gratitude for providing these services.
      - tcmb 4y ago
        I don't know, maybe one day we will see that we are part of a balanced ecosystem, and that this balance is ultimately more important than having good roads.
        jfk13 4y ago
        > balance is ultimately more important than having good roads ...or ever-increasing numbers of humans living an ever-more-consumerist life.
        Barrin92 4y ago
        >we are part of a balanced ecosystem we're really not though. Extinction is about as natural as anything else. We've had many in our planet's history some wiping out 90% of life, for a variety of reasons. Your car runs on dead dinosaurs and trees that have been pressed and liquified into the sediment and we didn't bury them there, nature is hardcore that way. Which is not to say that a balanced ecosystem isn't a great idea, but recognize it's an artificial one. Condemning hunters or humans or roads and just letting the Aurochs run wild is no guarantee for some kind of balance.
  - JoBrad 4y ago
    I did some light searching, and it would seem that your examples don’t support your viewpoint. I didn’t look into all of them, but there is only 1 truly wild horse species, which was actually extinct in the wild at one point. The rest are feral horses. Canis familiaris is the descendent of an extinct species. Many (most?) wolves and other wild dog species that do not live well among humans are either currently or were until recently endangered.
henearkr 4y ago
This is a problem very specific to North America. In Europe, the honey bee has always been there, and is no threat to anything else.

Domesticated bees might eat the same food that wild species eat.

They spread diseases like mites to the wild bee species chiefly, as well as out-competing them for food. Details are in the parent comment and in the article but if watching a video is more captive of your attention here's a report on Deutsche Welle which I found pretty good and more to the point. [1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSYgDssQUtA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSYgDssQUtA

Hemospectrum 4y ago

GGP contains a quote from the article explaining why. To summarize, honeybees compete with wild bees for food, and can spread illnesses that they can’t defend against.

michael1999 4y ago

For the same reasons that domesticating any animal leads to the extinction of the wild variant - habitat displacement - competition for food - disease

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
synu 4y ago
Aren’t there still some wild dogs, cats, horses, sheep, goats, and everything else humans have domesticated? Or are you being very specific about what went extinct, or maybe predicting future extinctions (in which case I’m curious more about what you mean?) Edit: sorry if the question came off as rude and that’s why it was downvoted, I was sincerely curious what you meant.
- User23 4y ago
  The aurochs[1] has sadly been hunted to extinction. The last one was killed in Poland during the 17th century. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurochs
  - Maursault 4y ago
    If there weren't hunters around to hunt them to extinction, they would have depleted natural resources and starved and been a lethal danger to people on future roads and highways. Hunters are entitled to our eternal gratitude for providing these services.
    - tcmb 4y ago
      I don't know, maybe one day we will see that we are part of a balanced ecosystem, and that this balance is ultimately more important than having good roads.
      - jfk13 4y ago
        > balance is ultimately more important than having good roads ...or ever-increasing numbers of humans living an ever-more-consumerist life.
      - Barrin92 4y ago
        >we are part of a balanced ecosystem we're really not though. Extinction is about as natural as anything else. We've had many in our planet's history some wiping out 90% of life, for a variety of reasons. Your car runs on dead dinosaurs and trees that have been pressed and liquified into the sediment and we didn't bury them there, nature is hardcore that way. Which is not to say that a balanced ecosystem isn't a great idea, but recognize it's an artificial one. Condemning hunters or humans or roads and just letting the Aurochs run wild is no guarantee for some kind of balance.
- JoBrad 4y ago
  I did some light searching, and it would seem that your examples don’t support your viewpoint. I didn’t look into all of them, but there is only 1 truly wild horse species, which was actually extinct in the wild at one point. The rest are feral horses. Canis familiaris is the descendent of an extinct species. Many (most?) wolves and other wild dog species that do not live well among humans are either currently or were until recently endangered.

henearkr 4y ago

This is a problem very specific to North America. In Europe, the honey bee has always been there, and is no threat to anything else.