LEGO Zoo #0009: Honeybee Hive

This week's playset has been a little delayed because I've had limited access to internet while on Spring Break.  To celebrate the coming of Spring, I've built a set to educate zoo visitors about one of the most important heralds of springtime:  the honeybee:

The European honeybee (Apis mellifera) originated in Europe and Asia and is now widespread throughout Africa and the Americas as well.  Honeybees are important pollinators for many flowering plant species.  They nest in natural crevices in dead trees, so they are easy to domesticate (relative to other bee species) because they can be transferred to an artificial hive box that simulates a natural hive.  This practice is called apiculture, or beekeeping.

Inside the hive, the bees create a strong hexagonal matrix of cells out of beeswax.  The whole structure is called a comb.  It is inside these cells that the bees ferment honey and raise their larvae:

A door on one side of the hive allows staff to access the inside:

On the other side, a plastic tube allows bees to move from the inside of the hive to the outdoors:

Outside the hive, the LEGO Zoo's horticulture department has planted a special flower garden just for the bees.  The bees move between the flowers, collecting pollen and nectar which will be converted to honey in the hive:

In front of the garden is a huge sculpture showing how a bee alights on a flower:

The bee sticks its tongue into the center of the flower and licks up the nectar inside.  The nectar will be transformed into honey through repeated regurgitation.

On the other side of the exhibit is a display showing what happens inside hive:

One side shows developing bee larvae, which are tended by worker bees:

The other side gives information about the process by which honey is formed:

A tunnel through the middle allows zoo guests to pretend that they are inside the hive, helping the bees in their work:

George, the zoo's apiculturist, has to wear a special to protective suit to ward off stings while he is tending the bees:

This set is designed so that the two side displays can be rotated independently around the central hive:

You can have both sculptures flanking the front...

or you can move them both out of the way in the back:

In this latter layout, the two parts fit together so that guests can move seamlessly through the garden into the hive, just as the bees do:

Animals and Minifigures:
bees (4), Kyle, George

Created with LEGO Digital Designer