The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bees in Panagal Buildings

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 26, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bees in Panagal Buildings

P. Oppili

Honeycombs a cynosure of all eyes

The honeycombs.— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

CHENNAI: Visitors to the Panagal Buildings at Saidapet could not have missed the huge beehive on the eight floor of the building.

Bees have built three combs in a portion of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests' room. A senior officer said there was only one honeycomb initially and the bees had built two more. A fourth one was also coming up on the building, said the officer.

Belonging to the wild species, (Apis dorsata), these bees are commonly known as Rock bees and are found in forest areas all over the country, say records. Researchers say this particular bee species builds a single hinge-open comb, usually measuring about 1.5 to 1.8 metres from side to side and will measure from .6 metres to 1.2 metres from top to bottom. They note that normally this particular bee species build their combs high up in open, in suspended form on the neglected houses, wall eaves, and other high places of buildings or the branches of trees.

H. Basavaraju, Conservator of Forests, Wildlife, said this bee species is known to be very good honey-gatherers. A single colony could produce as much as 27 kg of honey. However, they could not be domesticated, he added.

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