A wild honeycomb in the Western Alps. : Articles : SummitPost

A wild honeycomb in the Western Alps.

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Warm Autumn.

Articles

A wild honeycomb in the Western Alps.

Page Type: Article

Page By: chaberton

Created/Edited: Nov 24, 2011 / Nov 29, 2011

Object ID: 761810

Hits: 1383

Page Score: 89.34% - 30 Votes

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Table of Contents

They build it up!

The master of the house.

Photo gallery.

The ultrastructure of the honeycomb.

The geometry of nature.

Images

They build it up!

The breeding of the bees in the mountains. has always been a source of nourishment first and income today. Honey is a true gift of nature and work of the Bees. Thanks to its high sugar content is pretty indeperibile. Its nutritional value is very high and represents an excellent source of energy for sportsmen (even if a chocolate satisfied more the sweet tooth mountaineers).

Autumnal Beehive

It is not uncommon in the Alps meet the beehives,the owners of the swarms, usually hide them in lush forests in the vicinity of flourishing pastures. Bees produce a great honey thanks to the wonderful Alpine flowers.

Autumn reveals a masterpiece of construction.

Higher

Far more unusual is the encounter with a wild honeycomb. Bees hide them very well, usually within the timber or by exploiting the rich vegetation of plants. When I saw it, clinging to the highest branches of the tree, i thought that was a canvas bag, carried by the wind. Then, when i realized that it was a wonderful work of nature (a honeycomb), i ran home to take a ladder. I immediately took a series of photos in the light of late afternoon, promising myself to return for further study photography.

Being very close to the town (Bardonecchia) and fearing that someone could destroy it for fear, i returned after dark with a little more equipment (a help which held me the ladder and the lights,infrared and halogen lamp,my flexible endoscope).
The decision to photograph the honeycomb in the dark was happy, the incredible architectural structure is even more highlighted.

Covering the images at home (on the place was impossible for the excitement and the cold), I discovered a true masterpiece of engineering construction, a perfect labyrinth, a building for thousands of bees.
Considering the fact that it is made entirely of wax!

A single question I asked myself, what had become of the swarm?

The master of the house.

They are: "Architects, engineers, workers, skilful in flight, incredible climbers, but especially tireless."
And all this without a degree of specialization.
They're so perfect because of their natural instinct.

Apis mellifera mellifera is small, dark in color, which is often called the European Black Bee, has a reputation for being very aggressive.
This feature is not the original black bee of the Alps which is described as a race easy to treat. They can be distinguished from other subspecies because of their body fat and with abundant hair shed on the chest and
abdominal area, which gives them their characteristic dark brown color.

A flower, the best fast food in the world.

November 2011. To the last staple of Pollen!

Photo gallery.

The ultrastructure of the honeycomb.

The honeycomb is a grouping of hexagonal wax cells built by honeybees in their nest, able to contain the larvae brood and storing honey and pollen. It is likely that the honey bee constructs the honeycomb guided by instinct, and the predominant theory of biology in this regard, is that the presence of forms so efficient in nature is a result of natural selection. The building material used by bees is Wax, a substance secreted by the abdomen glands of worker bees. It is composed of a mixture of more than three hundred substances, is a good thermal insulation, waterproof, stainless steel, easily shaped (35 ° C is malleable and melts at 63 ° C), but is required to produce an enormous amount of energy.
The wax has very poor mechanical properties, and yet, the nest of bees is solid, able to resist weather for many years. This strength, then, is produced by the forms in which the wax is modeled.
The shape of the cells is such that two opposing layers of combs fit into one another, each face with closed extremity shared by opposing cells.
The size of the cell in which the larva develops has a width (inner diameter of the cell) of 5.5 mm. One side of the cell, 3.18 mm, and a perimeter of 19.08 mm that encloses an area of 26.24 mm ².
The reason that the cell has a pyramidal base is of great importance. It may be noted that the caudal body of the larva is fusiform, and, in a hollow pyramid trigonal, finds support in three oblique walls, otherwise, if the bottom of the cell was flat, the pupa would be compressed by its own weight.

The Exagonal Cells.

The Pyramid Base of the Cells

The Cells.

The geometry of nature.

A perfect hexagon!

Images



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gimpilator

Good Information And Great Photographs

Voted 10/10

This is a very interesting article to find on SP. Some members don't like the variety of mountain information we share these days. They want only rock climbing. But I like it!

You asked the question "what had become of the swarm?" This is a good question. Have you heard of CCD? Sadly, this disorder is sweeping the globe. Many think it is from the use of pesticides.

Posted Nov 25, 2011 10:35 am


	chaberton	Wow! thank you,
	Hasn't voted	i'm really glad that you like it. Me too, i fear that happened something like CCD, because even around here, have the very bad habit of using nicotine pesticides, that is the leading cause of mortality of the bees. (once it was fowl plague) I really hope that they forbid. Cheers. Roberto.
		Posted Nov 25, 2011 10:49 am

BobSmith

Great!

Voted 10/10

What an amazing post! Thanks for placing this here.

Posted Nov 27, 2011 6:11 pm


	chaberton	Thank you very much,
	Hasn't voted	I'm really happy you like it. The most difficult thing, was not taking pictures hanging on a ladder, but to isolate a single cell to photograph it under my microscope . There really wanted a lot of patience. have a really nice week. Cheers. Roberto.
		Posted Nov 28, 2011 2:27 am

mrchad9

Holy crap!

Voted 10/10

These are impressive photos Roberto! Nice writeup too.

Posted Nov 29, 2011 1:52 pm


	chaberton	Wow! Thank you.
	Hasn't voted	I really had a lot of fun with this honeycomb. It will be a wonderful experience(O: but only because hostesses were out! :O) All the best. Cheers. Roberto.
		Posted Nov 30, 2011 3:08 am

owner64	Great!
Hasn't voted	These are impressive photos Roberto! Nice writeup too.Sohbet
	Posted Dec 10, 2011 6:05 am


	chaberton	Re: Great!
	Hasn't voted	Thank you very much for your nice comment and visit. Have a really nice weekend. Cheers. Roberto.
		Posted Dec 10, 2011 10:00 am

smurfer

interesting

Hasn't voted

I'm a newcomer to SP and I personally like this type of variety on SP; learning and sharing about all things we might encounter on the way to summits is interesting for me and one of the main reasons for going to the summit.

Also, thanks for the obvious time spent on writing this up and the great pics.

Posted Jan 6, 2012 12:29 pm


	chaberton	Re: interesting
	Hasn't voted	Thank you very much for your visit and nice comment. In effect it is since I started this site, that i am much more attentive to everything around me. have a really nice day. Cheers from Turin.
		Posted Jan 6, 2012 12:46 pm

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