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Animal profile

Western Honey Bee

Apis mellifera

InsectaOpen woodland, meadow and farmland wherever flowering plants and cavity nest sites occur

Field profile

The western honey bee is a social bee that lives in perennial colonies of thousands of workers headed by a single queen. It builds vertical sheets of wax comb inside cavities and stores honey to survive seasons without forage. Managed hives make it the most economically studied insect in the world.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-07-09

Western Honey Bee

The waggle dance encodes direction relative to the sun

A returning forager runs a straight line on the vertical comb while vibrating her body. The angle of that run away from straight up matches the angle of the food source away from the sun, translating a horizontal bearing into a gravitational one.

Read with evidence →

Western Honey Bee | Daily Animal Facts