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🍯 Bee Metabolism: Energy, Protein & Fat Lab

A cutaway 3D honey bee and hive showing how carbohydrate, protein and fat reserves are drawn down across the seasons to fuel flight, brood rearing and winter thermoregulation.

Entomology & Insect Behaviour3DModerate60 FPS

A cutaway 3D honey bee sits in front of its comb, its glowing thorax, honey crop and fat body showing exactly how carbohydrate, protein and fat reserves are drawn down and rebuilt across the beekeeping year.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Carbohydrate burn (thorax glow) powers flight and shivering thermogenesis, protein flow feeds brood, and the fat body banks surplus energy in autumn to fuel the whole winter cluster once foraging stops.

🎮 How to Use

Pick a season, adjust foraging activity and ambient temperature, and toggle brood rearing. Watch the honey, pollen and fat bars respond, the thorax heat up, and — in cold conditions — the winter cluster tighten around the bee.

💡 Did You Know?

Winter bees are physiologically distinct from summer bees: they live for months rather than weeks, largely because they invest so heavily in fat body reserves instead of short-lived foraging effort.

⚙ Under the hood

A cutaway 3D honey bee sitting in front of its comb, whose glowing thorax, honey crop and fat body respond live to season, foraging activity, ambient temperature and brood-rearing controls, showing how carbohydrate, protein and fat budgets are drawn down or rebuilt across the year.

bee-metabolismbee-nutritionthermoregulationoverwinteringbee-physiologyapiculture

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install