Join The Club: Researchers Say Bees Aren't Getting Enough Sleep Either

Struggling to get enough sleep is a common problem for us humans, but it turns out it's also a problem for bees too!

According to two new studies, bees are not getting enough sleep due to the heavy use of a pesticide called Neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids is a commonly used pesticide that can alter how a bumble bee sleeps -- which results in body clock changes and unusual behavior...

"It seems to disrupt the body clock in foraging bumblebees -- they forage much less, more of that foraging is happening at nighttime, and they are sleeping a lot more in the daytime. It's causing a mistiming of their normal behaviors," Kiah Tasman, a teaching associate at the University of Bristol's School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, told CNN earlier this week.

And researchers believe this change in their sleep schedule can end up making the bees go out looking to feed at night... when flowers are not available. This has potential to dramatically affect the pollination process.

"It looks like these pesticides freeze these cells in a daytime shape, so the body doesn't know if it's daytime or nighttime," Tasman added.

Check out more details on CNN News.


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