Bees have long been known as helpful insects, but in recent years this helpfulness has grown to a new level. They still help plants grow, including food crops. Yet people have discovered that bees and their relatives can be used as animal detectives, too. Bees have been trained to detect land mines and even bedbugs. Age-appropriate vocabulary in English and standard Latin American Spanish support new and emerging readers in both languages.

When Olivia and Hamish see a smoky haze coming from their local park, they're ready to spring into action! But it's not a fire – it's a nest of Australian stingless bees that needs their help. Join Olivia and Hamish as they learn about the bees in our backyards. From Blue-banded and Teddy Bear to Carpenter and Leaf-cutter bees, our two budding Bee Detectives discover how our native bees live, what they like to eat and the important work they do to pollinate plants. Explore the wonders of Australia's native bees – and be inspired to become a Bee Detective, too. It's a real buzz!

While some pigs live on farms and roll in the mud, others are performing valuable services to people. Pigs have a great sense of smell and have been put to work for centuries sniffing out truffles, which are highly-prized mushrooms used in cooking and to make oil. Pigs are also used to sniff out bombs and drugs, and to do search and rescue work.

Take a sneak peek into the world of some of the bravest animals around in both English and standard Latin American Spanish. Police dogs work side-by-side with their human partners to stop crime, find missing people, stop illegal drug trafficking, and so much more. Spanish and English readers alike will be fascinated to learn about these animal detectives that protect and serve their communities every day.

Introduces bottlenose dolphins, describes how they are trained, and explains that the United States Navy and the Marine Corps have trained dolphins to find explosive mines and enemy swimmers in the water.

Introduces detection rats, most of which are African pouched rats, the largest rat in the world, and explains that rats can be trained to find land mines and dangerous diseases.

Many beagles and other scent-driven canines have been used successfully to sniff out bombs, drugs, and lost people, too. Today they are even used to help the many people who have had to fight the rising problem of bedbug infestation. Age-appropriate bilingual text explores the life, training, and work of these bedbug-sniffing dogs.

Find out where honey comes from as Grandpa the Beeman teaches the basics of beekeeping to his young grandson. This rhyming story includes 7 pages of educational endnotes full of essential facts about bees, beekeeping, honey, and the vital part that bees play in the natural world. Includes a honey muffin recipe on the final page!

How honeybees make collective decisions—and what we can learn from this amazing democratic process Honeybees make decisions collectively—and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making. A remarkable and richly illustrated account of scientific discovery, Honeybee Democracy brings together, for the first time, decades of Seeley's pioneering research to tell the amazing story of house hunting and democratic debate among the honeybees. In the late spring and early summer, as a bee colony becomes overcrowded, a third of the hive stays behind and rears a new queen, while a swarm of thousands departs with the old queen to produce a daughter colony. Seeley describes how these bees evaluate potential nest sites, advertise their discoveries to one another, engage in open deliberation, choose a final site, and navigate together—as a swirling cloud of bees—to their new home. Seeley investigates how evolution has honed the decision-making methods of honeybees over millions of years, and he considers similarities between the ways that bee swarms and primate brains process information. He concludes that what works well for bees can also work well for people: any decision-making group should consist of individuals with shared interests and mutual respect, a leader's influence should be minimized, debate should be relied upon, diverse solutions should be sought, and the majority should be counted on for a dependable resolution. An impressive exploration of animal behavior, Honeybee Democracy shows that decision-making groups, whether honeybee or human, can be smarter than even the smartest individuals in them.

“Spotlights a ‘dream team’ of scientists as they work to determine what is threatening bee colonies and (by extension) agriculture . . . fascinating.”—Booklist (starred review) Without honey bees the world would be a different place. There would be no honey, no beeswax for candles, and—worst of all—barely a fruit, nut, or vegetable to eat. So imagine beekeeper Dave Hackenburg’s horror when he discovered twenty million of his charges had vanished. Those missing bees became the first casualties of a mysterious scourge that continues to plague honey bee populations today. In The Hive Detectives, Loree Griffin Burns profiles bee wranglers and bee scientists who have been working to understand colony collapse disorder, or CCD. In this dramatic and enlightening story, readers explore the lives of the fuzzy, buzzy insects and learn what might happen to us if they were gone. “Throughout the presentation, readers learn about the anatomy, development, and social behavior of honey bees, and observe the process of scientific investigation and its vital, real-world application.”—Booklist (starred review) “An appendix adds varied fascinating facts about bees—again using the format of an illustrated research journal. Harasimowicz’s clear, beautifully reproduced photographs support and extend the text. Readers . . . will be well served by this example of a scientific mystery still unsolved.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Clear color photographs of beekeepers, scientists, equipment, close-ups of bees, hives, etc., complement the text on every page. Youngsters concerned with the environment will find this meticulously researched title a valuable resource.”—School Library Journal