Scandinavia hope for extinct bumblebee
Conservationists attempting to reintroduce an extinct bumblebee are heading to Sweden to collect queens after a bid to bring the species back from New Zealand failed.
The short-haired bumblebee was last recorded in the UK in 1988 near Dungeness, Kent, having suffered declines over the previous 60 years as its habitat was lost, and was officially declared extinct in 2000.
Efforts to transport queens back from New Zealand failed in 2009 when the bees died before they made it out of quarantine. Now the team behind the project to reintroduce the short-haired bumblebee to the UK are heading to southern Sweden, which is a stronghold for the species, to collect up to 100 queens.