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Urban Bees

Living with Apis dorsata

​The Rock Honey Bee (Apis dorsata) is likely one of the most important pollinator in India. Unfortunately, many Indians are afraid of them. Rock bees like to establish nests at high-rise buildings. In addition, the rock bee is the only honey bee species that forages at night and is attracted to light. This leads to grater instances of potential human-bee conflict.

Residents of high-rise buildings usually call pest management companies whose solution is generally to kill the bees and remove the combs. This is neither an ecologically responsible nor a scientifically smart solution. Studies have indicated that the rock bees have preferred nesting sites. 

​We, at the Honey bee lab, believe in co-existence with these beautiful creatures. We have alternate methods to deal with this situation. If you would like us to help and advice you and your community, please get in touch with us. We like to help and extend this conservation project to more apartment complexes that have problems with bee hives.

A few a months ago we started a collaboration with residents and the management of Bhartiya City, Bangalore. We are advicing the community on how to live with the rock honey bees and are developing strategies on how to deal with them in a manner beneficial for both the bees and the residents.

One part of our project involves monitoring the location of the hives and record the arrivals and departures of the colonies. The Rock Bee is a seasonal migrant during the monsoon period.
The numbers, in the above representative figure of the apartment complex, indicate the floor at which the bees build hives.

Monitoring Apis dorsata colonies in Bangalore