Skip to main content
Back to Show
Deep Look

Varroa Mites Are a Honeybee's 8-Legged Nightmare

Season 10 Episode 14

Every year, up to half the honeybee colonies in the U.S. die. Varroa mites, the bees’ ghastly parasites, are one of the main culprits. After hitching a ride into a hive, a mite mom hides in a honeycomb cell, where she and her offspring feed on a growing bee. But beekeepers and scientists are helping honeybees fight back.

Support Provided By
Season
4 Tiny Romances That Are Almost Too Freaky to Share
15:06
Praying mantises, barnacles, newts and earthworms have some of the strangest love lives.
4 of the Deadliest Tiny Hunters We've Ever Filmed
14:54
Watch these hunters use stealth, speed and lethal weapons to dispatch their prey.
Beware of Flesh-Eating Sand Piranhas at the Beach
3:49
Excirolana chiltoni hang out in the wet sand at the beach and might nibble at your feet!
Lacewing Bachelors Vibrate to Find a Valentine
3:49
Green lacewings vibrate their bodies and sing to each other!
These 5 Bees Are Waaay More Than Honey and Stingers
23:22
These five types of bees collect food and make their nests in surprising ways.
How Sunflowers Bring All the Bees to the Yard
5:00
These plants spend their whole life getting in just the right position.
The Bizarre Biology of 5 Bloodsucking Creatures
19:31
Mosquitoes, ticks, lice, kissing bugs and tsetse flies are all looking to grab a bite ... of you.
This Mite-y Beetle Buries the Dead to Start a Family
4:32
Burying beetles haul mouse carcasses into the dirt and prep them to start a family.
Watch Salamanders Skydive!
3:47
Wandering salamanders can skydive in the branches of the tallest trees in the world.
Tar Pits Are a Death Trap. Except for This Fly.
4:45
The petroleum fly and their larvae thrive in the natural asphalt at the La Brea Tar Pits.
Watch This Starfish Protect Her Babies From Danger
5:15
Six-rayed sea stars make great moms, caressing and protecting their babies for months!
Fly Metamorphosis is a Beautiful Nightmare
4:12
House flies deploy a specialized organ called the ptilinum to break out of their pupa!
Active loading indicator