Honey bee in flight.
Image: Alan Henderson
Source: Museum Victoria
Melbourne Museum’s newest display has now opened in the Science & Life Gallery.
Ten thousand live honeybees and supporting exhibits provide visitors with an insight into these fascinating social insects.
The bees are displayed in a glass-sided display hive with access through the window into a landscaped garden via a clear acrylic tube, while a microphone picks up bee sounds which are then amplified into the exhibition space.
As well as observing the queen and workers within the hive, surrounding displays enable visitors to learn about bee history, honey, pollination and life in the hive. They can also see scale models of bee eggs, larva and pupa, view a 30 million year old bee fossil, try pouring honey using an ingenious honey interactive and learn a bee dance.
This exciting new display is designed particularly for children and their carers, complementing the adjacent Bugs Alive! exhibition.