https://www.usluck.com/480411/giant-beehive-doing-a-defense-wave/ Giant beehive doing a defense wave #Interesting #InterestingAsFuck
Those patterns look like Conway's game of life rules.
@futurebird @usluck That looks like the way bees settle down with their new queen following swarming activity. I don't see any hive in that picture, but I expect there is one very new queen in the center of all of that bunch of bees.
This is Apis dorsata the giant honeybee. (People do get honey from them, but it's ... lets say it's nontrivial) I think they might be on their annual migration? This is a bivouac... something normally more associated with army ants.
The bees cluster like this as a show of force, like an army marching in review or a big protest. The message is "we're all together, coordinated and we'll mess you up if you mess with us."
They also cluster like this on their comb.
@futurebird @usluck These are different then from what we used to keep in our backyard. I remember reading about bees from other places and, yes that sounds like something one might find. What I watch for in an insect is the footwork. If I see it stomping its little feet then I give it room and distance and leave it to its business!
Apparently they can still be knocked into a bag or box like smaller honeybees, which I didn't know but I just found a video of a guy collecting a colony from a suburban tree and taking it back to the jungle.