The ministry said in a press conference that the presence of Himalayan giant honey bees (Apis laboriosa) has been recorded in the park since 2023, but authorities are looking at the data to confirm whether they are Apis dorsata, a common species. He said he was collecting samples. Giant bees can be found all over Thailand.
The Himalayan fruit bee has a distinctive black abdomen and golden-yellow fur around the thorax. They also have different housekeeping and herd behaviors and can survive at high altitudes up to 4.5 kilometers above sea level and in cold climates below 25 degrees Celsius.
Apis laboriosa is mainly found in the mountainous areas of Bhutan, China’s Yunnan province, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam, where it builds very large nests under the overhangs of vertical cliffs. A single nest can contain up to 60 kg of honey, the agency said. The Himalayan giant bee is also called the Himalayan cliff bee due to its unique nesting behavior.
Like the Himalayan fruit bee, the Himalayan fruit bee is a pollinator, and its role contributes to the viability of plant communities and forest biodiversity.
The Himalayan fruit bee is the only bee that produces red honey in the spring. Red honey has an intoxicating effect and various relaxing effects, which decrease with storage. The agency said the product is extremely popular and often sells for a high price due to its medicinal properties.
The discovery of the Western honey bee in Thailand adds to the roster of four species of bees in the family Apidae that are native to Thailand: the Western honey bee, the Western honey bee, the Western honey bee, the Western honey bee, and the Western honey bee, and the Western honey bee.
