This story doesn’t really have a point–it is just the brief tale of a senseless crash on the road.  Yet it is impossible not to be impressed and horrified by it.  Today in Montana, a driver lost control of a semi truck and crashed the enormous vehicle into a ditch.  Although the driver and his shotgun man were both unhurt, the truck’s cargo, 40,000 pounds of honey bees, came loose during the collision and I guess are now at large in Montana (this could be the beginning of a very special modern western).  The truck was traveling from California to North Dakota which is also fascinating to me.  Were these bees going to work the orchards of North Dakota?   Was this a honey bee colony ship?  We just don’t know all of the details.  We don’t even know if the bees will be recovered, although firefighters on the scene (in full fireproof gear and contained breathing devices) said that “only” a quarter of the bees fully escaped.

This incident has taught us that 40,000 pounds of bees is roughly equal to 133 million individual bees!  There were more honey bees on that truck then there are people in Japan.  I hope some of them set up permanent shop in Bozeman, Montana and it becomes an apiculture Mecca (maybe even changing its name to Beesman, Montana), but probably some insurance accountant will more a few numbers and the incident will be forgotten.  It really makes you wonder what is in all of those huge trucks out there on the road though…

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