Niels Gründel on July 13, 2026 - 11:33 AM What happens when bees are not supposed to build…

Niels Gründel on July 13, 2026 - 11:33 AM What happens when bees are not supposed to build hexagons? Squares instead of hexagons: Honeybees surprisingly adapt their comb construction © Shima et al., 2026/CC BY 4.0 View after 15 days of comb building on the 6-mm binder pattern of the foundation. Honeybee comb-building behavior has long been considered largely rigid and instinct-driven. Beekeepers typically provide pre-made foundations that leverage the bees' natural inclination to construct regularly arranged hexagonal cells, roughly the size of a bee's head. A recent study explored how well honeybees can respond to significant changes in cell shape. Researchers used specially designed foundations with square rather than hexagonal patterns, with side lengths of 2.4, 4.0, or 6.0 mm, arranged in either a staggered or regular grid pattern. The honeybees accurately perceived both the size and arrangement of the provided shapes, constructing different types of comb based on the template. They demonstrated remarkable adaptability: when the provided structures were too small, the bees removed them and started building anew. However, with a side length of 6.0 mm, they seemed to compensate for the slight deviation from their preferred cell size, despite requiring more building material. For the study: dlv-imker.de/mauerwerk Tags Bees