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Gallery 12 of 16 · Tiny livestock

Bees and silkworms

The honeybee and the movable-frame hive, the silk moth that cannot fly, and bees for hire.

Photo: Jacek Halicki, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Keeping beesHow to keep a hive · grades 6–12 and adultsA day in the hiveWatch a hive wake up · grades K–5
At least 8,500 years ago

The honeybee

biologyhistoryeconomics

Beeswax traces in Neolithic pottery show farmers across Europe and the Near East were using honeybee products about 8,500 years ago. People kept bees in clay, log and straw skeps until Lorenzo Langstroth patented his movable-frame hive in 1852, which lets keepers lift out combs without harming the colony.

Is a honeybee really domesticated, if a swarm can fly away at any time?

Sources: Roffet-Salque et al., "Widespread Exploitation of the Honeybee by Early Neolithic Farmers," Nature 527 (2015); Smithsonian Libraries, Langstroth's hive
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
China, more than 5,000 years ago

The silkworm: a moth that cannot fly

biologyhistorytrade & commercialization

The silk moth Bombyx mori was bred from a wild moth in China. After thousands of years of selection, it cannot fly or live without people, and its caterpillar spins a cocoon of one continuous thread. China guarded the secret; a Byzantine story told by Procopius says monks smuggled silkworm eggs to Constantinople around 552 CE.

Why would an empire treat an insect as a state secret?

Sources: Xiang et al., "The Evolutionary Road from Wild Moth to Domestic Silkworm," Nature Ecology & Evolution 2 (2018); Procopius, History of the Wars, book 8 (6th century)
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
Modern farms

Bees for hire

economicstrade & commercialization

In the United States, beekeepers truck hives across the country to pollinate crops; California's almond orchards alone rent well over a million colonies each spring. Pollination fees, not honey, are now a large share of many beekeepers' income.

What happens to a farm economy that depends on rented bees?

Sources: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, Cost of Pollination
Illustration: Urbanicity house studio (SI-generated)
Watch and look

Live from the barn

Live cameras at farms, sanctuaries and apiaries. Tap to watch here; all cams.

Live Honey Bee Cam
BeeCam · local time at the camera
Best viewing: Live now; most cams run around the clock. Animals are most active in early morning and late afternoon local time.
LIVE Honey Bee Cam: The Landing Zone - Buchloe, Germany | explore.org
Explore Bee Hive & Backyard Cams · local time at the camera
Best viewing: Live now; most cams run around the clock. Animals are most active in early morning and late afternoon local time.

Short films

Swipe, then tap to play. Captions are switched on where the maker provides them. Each film plays from its maker's channel.

The Hidden World Inside a Beehive | Secrets of the Bees | National Geographic W…National Geographic UK ↗
Secrets of the Bees | Official Trailer | Narrated by Bertie Gregory | National …National Geographic ↗
Amazing Time-Lapse: Bees Hatch Before Your Eyes | National GeographicNational Geographic ↗
When the desert blooms, this bee emerges into a chaotic mating frenzy #SecretsO…National Geographic ↗
Inside the Hive | Secrets of The Bees | National Geographic AfricaNational Geographic Africa ↗
The Genius of Bees | Secrets of The Bees | National Geographic AfricaNational Geographic Africa ↗

Picture gallery

Tap a picture to enlarge it. Every picture is public domain or openly licensed, credited below, and kept on our own server.

Andrey Butko · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Richard Bartz, Munich Makro Freak & Beemaster Hubert Seibring, Munich which gave me advice and a pr… · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5
Martin Falbisoner · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tisha Mukherjee · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Charles J. Sharp · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Joydeep · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Skander zarrad · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Michael Apel · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.5
Wilfredor · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Charles J. Sharp · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ivar Leidus · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sputniktilt · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · No known restrictions on publication (Library of Congress)
Rau, William Herman, 1855-1920, photographer · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · No known restrictions on publication (Library of Congress)
Rau, William Herman, 1855-1920, photographer · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division · No known restrictions on publication (Library of Congress)
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