India, June 27 -- Plenty of creatures help plants procreate, so what makes bees special?

Why, in their absence, do fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds decline in both yield and quality?

Well, bees are sort of built for pollination. While birds may pick up a few grains of pollen while sipping on nectar, the grains cling in far larger numbers to bees' hairy little bodies. Where some birds may then chase after a bug or worm, dropping the pollen where it can do no good, bees hop from flower to flower, over distances as wide as 8 km, keeping local plant ecosystems genetically diverse and thriving.

Today, amid habitat loss, climate change, pesticides, rampant monoculture and increased vulnerability to diseases, bee numbers are famously fallin...