#bee

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From bulletproof bones to bees: What gets WA researchers buzzing?

You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Kit Prendergast is so passionate about bees she often dresses like one, has a circus act called The Birds and the Bees that she performs at fringe festivals, and goes by moniker the Bee Babette online. But honeybees are not her main focus. Dr Prendergast is a wild bee scientist who has studied native bee biodiversity, urban pollination networks, native bee conservation and the impact of introduced honeybees on native pollinators. In 2022, she made international headlines after discovering a new native bee species in Kings Park and naming it after her pet dog, Zephyr, because of the bee’s unusual dog-like snout. She also discovered another species, named “Lucifer” for its devil-like horns, in the Goldfields in 2025. “Many people think of honeybees when they hear the word bee, but Australia has an extraordinary diversity of native bees living around us in parks, gardens, bushland and urban spaces,” Prendergast said. “They are small, often overlooked and incredibly important. Advertisement “If we want people to protect native bees, we first need them to notice them.” Prendergast said part of the reason native bees...