According to a Canadian study, queens of the common eastern bumblebee can withstand being submerged in water for a week while hibernating without showing any symptoms.
After an earlier experiment went wrong, which was pointed out by Dr. Sabrina Rondeau of the University of Guelph in Ontario, research was initiated.
She discovered that moisture had filled four containers containing the 300 common eastern bumblebee queens that she had kept in a refrigerator while they hibernated.
“I was positive that the queens were deceased,” Dr. Rondeau stated to the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.
