Camera
Drag — orbit around the swarm
Wheel — move in / out
Right-drag or Shift-drag — pan the view
T — aim at the queen · centre · tip
Double-click — re-centre · A — auto camera
D — hide these displays (D again shows them)
Drag — orbit around the swarm
Wheel — move in / out
Right-drag or Shift-drag — pan the view
T — aim at the queen · centre · tip
Double-click — re-centre · A — auto camera
D — hide these displays (D again shows them)
Press D to show displays
FPS
Time
Settled
Aloft
Strands
CT54.A6.CombinedSwarms loading…
CHOOSE ONE OF FIVE SWARMS
The Swarm
★ The default is option 2 — Compact: a common, tightly bound cluster. Start there.
⏳ This simulation takes minutes to resolve. For the first minute the bees only mill about in a loose cloud; the cluster forms over the next one to two minutes and is complete after about 2–3 minutes (longer on a slow computer or with many bees). Leave it running — + speeds it up.
What this is. A honeybee swarm has left its hive with the old queen. The bees mill in a cloud, find her by her scent and gather around her. In options 1–4 they hang in chains under the old arbor, in the shapes the scientific literature describes; option 2, a compact, tightly bound cluster, is the default. Option 5 is an experiment based on the author's own observation: the bees close into a ball around a queen hovering in the open air.
Option 5 is an experiment based on the author's observations. The author once watched a swarm draw in to a dense ball of bees, 12–18 in across, that seemed to hover in the air attached to nothing. That is not documented in the scientific literature: measured swarms in flight are thousands of times less dense, and no study describes a queen hovering in one place for minutes. Option 5 tests what the bees would have to do to make it happen. It is not a confirmed behaviour, and it is not where to start.
The cluster takes minutes to resolve (about 2–3 min) · D shows / hides the read-out displays · drag to circle, wheel to zoom, Space pauses, M sound · keys 1–5 switch option · options 1–4: N shows the chains · option 5: G moves the queen to the measuring pole
How to run it and the science behind it: the Audit · this card again: ? Options (bottom left) or the banner
How to run it and the science behind it: the Audit · this card again: ? Options (bottom left) or the banner
Five swarms in one simulation · it takes minutes to resolve (about 2–3 min: the bees mill first, then gather) · how to run it and the science: CT54.A6.CombinedSwarms_AUDIT.html (also as .md), in this folder.
Click to turn on the sound · Space to go on