Skip to content
Adopt a hive · Managed-box species · Angelita

Meet the Angelita · Tetragonisca angustula

The smallest bee in the Stingless bee sanctuary — and the most beloved.

Photo · ARI Field Team
About this species

About the Angelita

Angelita (Tetragonisca angustula) is one of the smallest stingless bees in the Amazon. Her colonies are calm and easy to handle, which makes them the ideal entry point for new meliponicultoras learning to manage a rational hive.

The honey is intensely floral and is traditionally prized as medicine. A single rational Angelita box can sustain a Kukama family with both food and small surplus income.

Angelita
Photo · ARI Field Team
How your donation helps

Every contribution funds real work.

  • Replacement of the wooden hive box and monthly inspections

  • Training grants for new meliponicultoras

  • Materials to multiply the colony when it grows strong enough to split

  • Reforestation of native flora that keeps bees healthy and thriving

As a supporter

What you receive in return

Every hive you adopt is home to 2,000–4,000 stingless bees. Here's what comes back to you in return:

01

A plaque with your name

Recognized at the stingless bee sanctuary where your hive lives — physical proof that this colony is sustained by you.

02

Annual reports

A yearly update on how your colony is doing — surviving, growing, producing.

03

Photos and videos

Periodic field updates from the tree, hive, or rational box you support.

04

Knowing you're protecting bees

The lasting satisfaction of safeguarding a keystone species of Amazonian forests.

05

The community's story

A profile of the Indigenous community stewarding your hive, in their own voice.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What every donor wants to know before adopting a Angelita colony.

Q · 01

What does "adopt" actually mean?

It is a symbolic adoption: your contribution funds the protection of the bees, their habitat, and the Indigenous family that cares for them. You do not gain legal ownership of the colony — the impact is conservation, not possession.

Q · 02

Where is the hive located?

In the Stingless bee sanctuary maintained by the Kukama community of San Francisco, Pacaya Samiria buffer zone, Loreto Region, Peru. Rational hives are kept in managed wooden boxes alongside the natural forest.

Q · 03

Who cares for the hive?

Indigenous Kukama Kukamiria families trained in sustainable meliponiculture. Their work combines ancestral knowledge with modern monitoring techniques.

Q · 04

What do I receive?

A digital adoption certificate, an introduction to the host community, biological information about the species and the tree where it nests, and monthly photo/video updates.

Q · 05

Can I gift the adoption?

Yes. At checkout you can personalize the certificate for the recipient’s name of your choice.