The garden bumblebee is Garden Animal of the Year 2023. This was announced by the Heinz Sielmann Foundation after a public vote on the Internet. The bumblebee received around 4,400 of the around 11,000 votes cast. The other places are followed by the earthworm and the swallowtail. There were also species such as blackcap, little weasel and golden rose chafer to choose from.
“The strong vote for the garden bumblebee this year shows us that many people now know about the importance of bumblebees as pollinators of plants,” explained spokesman Florian Amrhein.
According to the foundation, the garden bumblebee is one of the most common bumblebee species in Germany and Europe. With its long trunk, it can therefore dive down to a depth of two centimeters in flowers. This is how she gets to the nectar of particularly deep calyxes. Therefore, it is considered an important pollinator of many wild and useful plants.
