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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Harry Goudie <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 18 May 2002 10:21:14 +0100
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The word "native" is to do with being born.  i.e. If you are born in America
then you are a native of America.  Eunuch uses the word correctly.  The word
has been corrupted in recent years to have the same meaning as indigenous
which itself has, in my opinion, no accurate meaning.  Tim has put forward
the idea that this mean "originating" when used in the context of zoology
and botany which I think is a flawed concept.  Living organisms evolve.
They do not "originate".  At what point  in a creature's evolution do you
say that it has originated?   With regard to bees.  If you use the original
meaning of "native" then almost all bees in America are native bees.  If you
are talking about where and when the species originated then seem to me to
be venturing into a very grey area.  Bees have been around for a very long
time  (25 million years?) Who would be so bold as to say that they did not
originate in what may have been America 25 million years ago?  If it was not
for human intervention bees would probably not exist in many countries in
which they live today.  This whole idea of native / indigenous species
should be dropped as it has lead to a lot of stupid consequences.
Harry

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