Wild Bees

Wild Bees : Traditional Honey Harvesting in Cambodia.
Apis Dorsata, the Giant Honey Bee, is a honey bee of southern and southeastern Asia living mainly in forested areas. Each colony consists of a single vertical comb (sometimes approaching a square metre) suspended from above, and the comb is typically covered by a dense mass of bees in several layers. When disturbed, the workers may exhibit a defensive behavior known as defense waving. Bees in the outer layer thrust their abdomens ninety degrees in an upward direction and shake them in synch. This may be accompanied by stroking of the wings. The signal is transmitted to nearby workers that also adopt the posture, creating a ripple effect across the face of the comb.
Honey hunters use a smoker. Here the smoker is made entirely from natural materials found in the forest. Smoke calms bees; it initiates a feeding response in anticipation of possible hive abandonment due to fire.
Indigenous peoples have traditionally used this species of bee as a source of honey and beeswax.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• bees
• honey
• harvest
• cambodia
• khmer
• traditional
• wild
• nature
• beekeeping
• apiculture
• beeswax
• smoke

[sparrowvido]

Thanks for this video; I love watching the beautiful Apis dorsata, and found it interesting to see the making of a smoker which doubles as a bee brush!

There seemed to be a large amount of capped brood, but not much honey on that comb. Also, if the queen was injured while being brushed off, the bees wouldn't have any eggs to raise another queen from... Is this their normal way of harvesting honey?

[astraljester]

@sparrowvido

it's the normal way, but this is right at the end of the season...last harvest...so the hunter takes it all...during the season he just takes the honey...the bees fly to the mountain and they will be back...so long as there is still a forest for them to make their home...that's the real danger now...epidemic deforestation paired with the new monocrop rubber planting fetish...

the hunter points out the queen at 4.25

Peace

[astraljester]

Thankyou for your comments :-)

sadly the wild honey hunters' way of life is under serious threat in Cambodia due to the rapid disappearance of forests in the country. Logging is rife in the small pockets of remaining jungle, and monocrop rubber plantations are being promoted as the new 'natural forest' environment. Unfortunately nobody will find these bees at home on a rubber tree...

[0815tobey]

They diddnt got stung ???

there were like thousands flying around them

[astraljester]

@0815tobey

the honey-hunter does get stung at 5.05...but he pulls the sting out so fast!

[normalil]

Wow! Those are brave guys, but I suppose they are used to it. I feel really sorry for the bees though..

[astraljester]

this was end of season harvesting - so the whole comb is taken for honey and wax... most of these bees go to a nearby mountain and will return next season ... during the rest of the honey harvesting season, the approach is the same, but only the honey comb is removed while the colony is left alive and in peace (once the smoke has cleared)

[rhubarbmuncher1]

Superb video.

[jannassary]

haaaaHAHAHAAHAHA  HE FOLDED IT LIKE A BOOK

[88yp88yp]

Very interesting and amazing! Thanks for sharing! Greetings from Hong Kong, China!

[simplyjongen]

amazing i love the mother earth

[jamie376]

u could have got stong to death