An Amusing Look at How Honeybees Build Mathematically Perfect Hexagonal Hives

In a humorous episode of his True Facts series, narrator Ze Frank explores the architectural marvels of honeybees, noting how they build mathematically perfect hexagons in their hives.

These sheets of honeycomb are used to raise babies and to store honey and pollen. And this comb is made from a series of hexagonal cells. And this shape, the hexagon, turns out to be quite special.

He also examines the evolutionary history of social insects and their use of collective labor to build their geometrically complex hives.

But how do they know how to do it? Do they have some idea of what it should look like? I mean, even a simple structure like this, let alone when thousands of them are collaborating on a nest. I mean, you know, statistically there’s got to be a few idiots in there. Well, for this, it’s helpful to go over a concept called stigma….the idea that a signal in the environment triggers some sort of behavioral response in the animal.