Earlier this week, the iconic Notre Dame, regarded as Paris' beating heart, caught on fire, resulting in a devastating blaze that threatened to destroy the 850-year-old landmark. Thankfully, although the fire still caused considerable damage to the cathedral, Notre Dame's stone structure and towers remained intact (not forgetting, of course, that its iconic spire and roof tragically collapsed). This is the heartbreaking moment that the Notre Dame spire collapsed: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/7oCF9GKP-Q0L14jDU.mp4||7oCF9GKP]] In the wake of the incident, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged an international fundraising scheme for the necessary reconstructive works. "We'll rebuild this cathedral all together and it's undoubtedly part of the French destiny and the project we'll have for the coming years," said an emotional Macron, who dubbed the fire a "terrible tragedy". Much has been made of the colossal sum of money that's already been raised to help rebuild Notre Dame, with some of France's richest individuals among the early benefactors. But one story that has been rumbling underneath the surface thus far is that of Notre Dame's nearly 200,000 bees, which were kept on the roof of the building. This heartbreaking footage shows the extent of the damage inside the cathedral: [[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/qoz1vNL0-dkXnENEs.mp4||qoz1vNL0]] Those who knew of the bees had been convinced they would not survive the terrible blaze, fearing that the intense heat of the blaze would lead to them perishing. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BwZScZLHFH8/]] However, drones commissioned to fly over the roof by urban beekeeping company Beeopic took pictures that appeared to show the hives still in tac. “An ounce of hope! The photos taken by different drones show that the three hives are still in place … and obviously intact!” the company proclaimed. Since then, as per the Metro, beekeeper Nicholas Geant has reported that the bees survived the blaze, saying: "The bees are alive. Until this morning, I had had no news. At first I thought that the three hives had burned but I had no information. "Then I saw from satellite images that this was not the case and then the cathedral spokesman told me that they were going in and out of the hives." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BwU6vtoHqoU/]] Like many others, Geant had feared the worst for the bees and says he received calls from people all over the world who were concerned for them. A decline in bee colonies across the world has been well documented in recent years. The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder">EPA highlights</a> Colony Collapse Disorder as a primary reason for this. Besides the harm to the bees themselves, this can cause a number of ecological issues - considering how key bees are to pollination. In order to help, Pornhub has rolled out the initiative 'BeeSexual', wherein viewers will be able to watch bees during the intimate act of pollination, with money being donated to bee conservation with each view.

The 200,000 bees kept on roof of Notre Dame survived devastating fire

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