Meet Boneco, the world’s first beekeeping donkey. He lives in Brazil and helps his owner, Manuel Juraci, make honey. Boneco also does not appear to like his beekeeping suit. But boy does he look adorable while wearing it.
This isn’t just a funny hobby for Juraci and Boneco though. Beekeeping is their livelihood. In their region of Brazil, it’s too arid to farm the land, so a large number of locals have turned to beekeeping and honey production to make ends meet. Juraci is actually one of 120 beekeepers in the small town of Itatira, which is in the northeastern part of the country. He’s also one of the most productive thanks to Boneco and that hilariously homemade donkey-sized beekeeping suit. It makes such a difference that the Association of Honey Producers wants Juraci to make more suits for other beekeepers’ donkeys.
The only people that probably don’t like Boneco are the faithful fans of Bazz, the beekeeping black lab. Bazz does more than haul honey. His nose is actually a powerful tool that his owner uses to sniff out American foulbreed, a destructive bee disease. Bazz’s owner also custom made his suit which features a transparent cone to contain his head.
Frankly, I’m Team Boneco. Not only does his suit make him look like some sick fencer from outer space, he’s also the only beekeeping animal you can also ride. So there’s that. [Inhabitat]
This local news segment is in Portuguese, so you’ll probably want to turn on captions and translate them to English.
This is what Boneco looks like when he’s naked.