giant honey bees (Apis dorsata)

Kaeng Krachan National Park

an interesting thing with the giant honey bees is that they don't make their hives inside enclosed spaces like regular honey bees. What they do is build a vertical comb under a tree branch, and the bees cluster around the outside. So what is in this photo aren't just swarming bee clusters, they are the actual breeding hives surrounded by the bees.