Contibuted by Pensri Mahanil Whiting
In April 2014 we found 8 beehives in Don Chao Poo Forest. It started when James, Pensri and some of her relatives went to Don Chao Poo to GPS map the location of the Yang trees (mostly Dipterocarpus Alatus Roxb. ex G.Don). Interestingly, all 8 hives are found on yang trees, with a colony of 4 hives on one tree and the other 4 hives on other trees, singly.
All 5 trees are in quite an open space surrounded by big communities of yang trees.
Later, James, Pensri and Tina measured the height of these yang trees. We found that the average height of the 4 tall trees is about 53 metres and the average height above the ground of the 7 hives on those trees is about 38 metres. The only beehive that is slightly apart from those 7 hives on a medium sized yang tree of about 17 metres in height and the hive is about 7 metres above ground level.
Here are some of the hives we have found so far:
The bees we found in Don Chao Poo have been identified as Apis dorsata, commonly called the Giant bee, or Phung Luang ผึ้งหลวง (Royal bee) in Thai. Here are some specimens we collected: