alt Hacker NewsCool findings. However, considering the endangered nature of bumblebees in North America, it is sad and frustrating to see the number of Queens sacrificed in the name of research. Hundreds if not more.
This was the most grotesque part of the research, that sacrificed 20 bees right here:
> They froze five bees at each stage of the experimental process: before submersion, after four days underwater, after eight days underwater and after one week of post-submersion recovery. The researchers then ground up the frozen queens and measured the concentration of lactate in the resulting mush.
This could have been done without needing to kill the Queen bees. One such method has been known since 2017, that draws their blood through their antennae:
1) there are millions of honeybee hives in north america. Therefore thare a millions of queens associated with those hives
2) its very easy/straightforward to take a honeybee larve and raise it to be a queen (i.e. let it feed on royal jelly).
If you find animal research to be problematic, none of this changes anything. However, this did nothing to hurt honeybee colonies in north america.