Sticker • We Need Native Bees

Supporting native bee populations is an environmental, social, & climate NECESSITY.

India is home to over 800 bee species. Native bees are effective and fit pollinators; many plants will usually prefer pollination by native bees due to their mutualistic relationships over thousands of years of co-evolution. India's native bees include Apis dorsata, Apis cerana (nests in tree cavities!), Apis florea (small 'dwarfs'!). Apis dorsata is our beloved Giant Asian Rock Bee -- one of our native bees to South Asia. Apis dorsata nest in tall trees and on steep cliffs (and make the rich honey that we bring to you in Last Forest bottles)! Although many consider dorsata to be aggressive and dangerous, and some say that you can die from a number of stings, Nilgiri Indigenous honey hunters have such intimate knowledge of the forests and relationships with the dorsata that while collecting honey, both honey hunters and bees remain unharmed.

Apis mellifera is the Western honeybee, in an non-native/invasive bee in India that has been promoted for beekeeping. Around 75% of India's honey is made by these imported bees. Suited to our climate and flora, Indigenous bees are just as (if not more) important than Western bees, although they are not given the same recognition. For example, the European Union only recognizes this mellifera European honeybee species as a real bee: all other bees are, according to their laws, not honeybees -- thus complicating and often barring import of honey like Apis dorsata honey into the EU.  

This sticker is a part of our new collection of Last Forest stickers, in celebration and pride of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve! This is our first batch, so let us know what you think! 

2.5 x 3.5 in, matte paper sticker. This sticker is hand-cut, so inconsistencies may occur.