I'm finding this whole bee concept quite inspiring, there's definitely a great idea behind the 'hive mentality'.
A few ideas of what the "hive mentality" is;
- A collective consciousness
- Group thinking
- Herd behaviour
- Conformity
- Swarm intelligence
- A centrally controlled structure
I guess some of these ideas have negative connotations, but the sense in which we have been discussing it is working collaboratively, rather than as individuals.
BEE STRUCTURE
Queen Bee
The Queen Bee is the head of a hive; she lays the eggs and controls the development of the hive. For a new Queen to be born, the worker bees must feed the larva royal jelly. When a new Queen is born, the old Queen will kill it, or leave it with half of the hive colony (which results in a bee swarm).
Worker Bee
Worker bees collect water, nectar and pollen. Other tasks include cleaning the cells, guarding the hive entry and feeding the drones and larvae. They have glands that produce wax, which they shape into the honeycomb structure.
Drones
Making up 10% of the hive colony, the drones have strong wings used for the mating flight. After this flight, the worker bees take care of the drones - they then bite off their wings before Winter, and kick them out of the hive, as they have no other use.
HONEYCOMB STRUCTURE
"A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and sites of honey and pollen."
Geometry?
- Axes of the honeycomb cells are always quasi-horizontal
- The non angled rows are always horizontally, rather than vertically aligned
- Each cell has two vertical walls, with a floor and ceiling (with two angled walls)
- The cells slope slightly upwards
Why are the cells hexagons?
- Hexagons tile the plane with minimal surface area
- Uses the least material to create a lattice of cells
- The ends are able to nest into one another, shared by opposing cells
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