It was a little scary. I thought the dwarf honey bee was really pretty, and not so scary since it was small. The eastern hive bee reminded me of honey bees I studied in the U.S. The familiarity made me feel more confident about working with them.
These bees live in south-eastern Asia. In addition to India, they can be found in nearby countries like Thailand and Sri Lanka. They live everywhere in India except the mountains, where it is too cold for them. They even live in large cities like Bengaluru (where I live).
When you think of where honey bees live, you might think of colorful boxes (like in the picture on the right). These boxes have wooden squares called frames. Bees build honeycomb on frames. One of the species in India, the eastern hive bee lives in boxes like that. The other two species are very different though. They live in the open and not in boxes. They build a single sheet of honeycomb. The whole colony lives on that one honeycomb, so it is covered by a curtain of bees. The dwarf honey bee builds nests in bushes and trees where they can hide from other animals. The giant honey bee builds nests on exposed places like tree branches and building ledges. Their nests are huge!
Honey bees all over the world survive by collecting nectar and pollen from flowers. Nectar is a sugary liquid that plants product to attract insects. Pollen is a powdery substance plants make to give birth to other plants. Bees use the nectar from plants to make honey. Both humans and adult bees eat honey. Bees that are still young eat pollen.
