Google Doodle celebrates Earth Day with game about honeybees

SAN FRANCISCO: Google marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 with an animated graphic and celebrated “our planet and one of its smallest, most critical organisms, the bee.”

The special doodle features a bee hovering over green surroundings that represent nature. Google has also created a game that lets users control a bee pollinating flowers. The doodle begins with an introduction about pollination in the backdrop of animation as users click on the play button.

“Pollination by bees makes two-thirds of our world’s crops possible as well as 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants,” the animation said. Bees are instrumental in the process of pollination or transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.

The introduction is followed by the game wherein the user can make bees pollinate flowers by moving the mouse. Facts about bees are also displayed in between different levels of the game.

The Google doodle art was led by Gerben Steenks, with engineering by Jacob Howcroft and Stephanie Gu. “We hope people understand the importance of bees to the earth and to humanity. For those who want to take action, anyone can have a positive impact by growing pollen-producing plants,” the doodle team said.

See what all the BUZZ 🐝 is about in this year’s interactive #GoogleDoodle celebrating #EarthDay! 🌎

Guide your bee to pollinate flowers, while learning fun facts about our winged friends & our planet they help sustain 🌺 → https://t.co/cbeIpTweSr pic.twitter.com/HrgA7a9tKy

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 22, 2020

Earth Day is celebrated annually across the world on April 22 to support environmental protection. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 in the United States, dedicated to preserving the planet and reversing climate change. In the fifty years since then, Earth Day has become an international tradition, allowing the world to come together to do our part to give back to nature.

Google has partnered with The Honeybee Conservancy to develop a game about the humble honeybee which also provides useful facts about the honeybee’s purpose and the incredible impact they have on earth.

Google said the doodle also reminds us of how small actions performed by individuals everywhere add up to big results. It said that while beekeeping may not be for everyone, there are many ways to help save bees, even with social distancing measures.