A leaf cutter ant colony would also be nice. Not easy to get a queen into the US for hobbyist use though.
y-curious
I just looked this up out of curiosity. These ants cut pieces of leaves off, store them and use them to grow fungus. They then eat the fungus. This is very cool
snickerbockers
How did the ancients come to view beehives as a sign of prosperity? Did they actually understand that bees play a necessary role in plant reproduction cycles?
danielbln
Honey is yummy, and very sweet. Not something that's easily come by in the days of yore. Maybe that's enough to give it a special status, a golden extremely tasty goop that's protected by a bunch of spicy yellow flies.
bbarnett
Indeed! As zombo.com says, honey bees can do anything. Anything at all!
Neat, reminds me of when I all I wanted was a interior antfarm wall after playing too much sim ants. Cursory research and bummed antfarms aren't nearly as cool in real life.
yboris
Video detailing a technique to grow bees in bottles (easy indoor installation)
This article is a great introduction to the topic of indoor (or rather in-wall) beehives, which I was curious about after seeing a father-son duo construct an impressive setup with hexagonal 3D printed enclosures. The authors voice is very enjoyable. Give it a read if you have a few mins
paranoidrobot
If the idea of inside /obervation bee hives interests you, you might enjoy the Youtube channel run by Frederick Dunn. He has an observation hive built into the wall of his recording studio.
This year I put a beehive in my backyard. I can sit for hours (not really, minutes more likely) just staring at them working, going in and out of the hive. Maybe in a year or two I'll actually get honey.
teddyh
I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.
— Jerome K. Jerome
cryptonector
I learned some really interesting things from the author's replies in the comments at TFA.