Sabah Society – Sandakan Talk at Sandakan DOK Hospital – 20 February, 2009
Stephen Petersen
The speaker described the role of honeybees in pollinating agricultural crops and also in the natural environment. There are 9 species of honeybees in the world and 8 are indigenous to Asia – Borneo is home to 5 species, namely Apis dorsata, A. cerana, A. andreniformis, A. koschevnikovi and A. nuluensis.
Honeybees are social insects and within a colony, the queen bee reigns over thousands of female worker bees and a smaller number of male drone bees.
Since time immemorial, honey hunting from the giant wild honeybee, Apis dorsata has been associated with many native groups. The majestic mengaris tree (Koompasia excelsa) is often the favourite for the wild honeybees to construct their honeycombed nests, hence, the name ‘bee tree’.
The wild honeybees can travel up to a few hundred kilometres in search for food, and as much as 20 kg of honey can be harvested from a single honeybee nest. Bee keeping has also long been practised in Malaysia and other parts of Asia. Traditionally, they use hollow log hives known as gelodog that are often hung outside rice-huts, waiting for the arrival of ‘black’ honeybee, Apis cerana. In many villages nowadays, the modern square frame hives are being used.
Mr Petersen also gave this talk to KK members on 1st December 2008.
