Brookfield Zoo Chicago opened a new exhibit Monday where kids can see bees up close — and even learn what it’s like to be one — with the hope they go home and work to protect them.
Located inside the zoo’s Hamill Family Play Zoo, the exhibit features two locally-rescued honeybee hives for observation and a play area where kids can pretend to be a bee.
Jennifer Baader, Brookfield’s senior vice president of government affairs and community programs, said the exhibit has been under construction for about six months. It was done in partnership with Illinois Bee Rescue, a local bee conservation organization, that helped design the unique observation hives.
Baader said the hives’ clear front panels allow visiting families to watch the bees within.
“You can see them working to clean out the hive, caring for the queen, you can actually see the queen laying eggs in cells, and the worker bees capping the honey,” she said.
Illinois Bee Rescue recently rescued the hives that includes an estimated 45,000 bees and provided them to Brookfield, the Zoo said in a news release. One hive was living in an attic in a Naperville home, while another was near a window in a building in Lincoln Park.
The Bee Rescue will also come and check in on the bees at the exhibit, and even use them to sell local products like honey and lip balm.
Honey bees in a cassette. The hives were locally-rescued by Illinois Bee Rescue.
Beyond the observation point, there is also a play area for kids that features a child-sized honeycomb hive, which children can step inside wearing a bee costume. They can pretend to collect pollen and nectar from flowers, and then return to the honeycomb to make honey.
Brookfield is also planning on eventually featuring another playful activity where kids can pretend to be a beekeeper and care for hives.
It’s all about driving home the message of protecting the bees. According to Brookfield, Bees pollinate 80% of flowering plants, including more than 150 fruits and vegetables, which allows those plants to reproduce.
“We really want them to appreciate these animals before we ask them to save them,” Baader said. “It’s about building that connection between children and the environment and nature, and building an empathy for an animal by understanding what they need to survive.”
After that empathy is built, Brookfield wants to encourage visitors to take their own action. Baader said tips include planting flowers native to the area, like coneflowers and goldenrods, in a personal garden to support the native bee population is a good first step. She added not using chemicals on a personal lawn and researching the pesticides a house is using can be helpful, too.
Bee populations were declining significantly for quite some time as urbanization, climate change and increased use of pesticides have harmed them. While bees have made headlines recently for a resurgence, Baader said bees native to the greater Chicago area, like bumble bees, are still struggling.
The exhibit is open now, though for until Dec. 30, visitors can only visit it on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.