FRISCO, Colo. (AP) — A conservation dog trained to detect bumblebees in Colorado’s high country is helping a researcher with her master’s degree in evolutionary biology.
Jacqueline Staab and her German shorthaired pointer named Darwin have already done surveys around Hoosier Pass and throughout parts of the White River National Forest.
Staab tells The Summit Daily that alpine bumblebees are like a canary in a coal mine for climate change. Dogs like Darwin are much more capable of finding things in nature than humans are because one-third of a dog’s brain is controlled by its olfactory system.