More than 600 bee species across Mexico, Central and South America and tropical regions worldwide make honey, but don’t have stingers to protect it. So, how do they keep thieves away? And what does their honey taste like?

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Stingless bees build their nests mainly in the hollows of living trees, anywhere from rainforests to cities.

Deep Look filmed four species kept by stingless beekeeper Emilio Pérez in the state of Oaxaca, in southwestern Mexico. He keeps Melipona beecheii, Scaptotrigona pectoralis, Scaptotrigona mexicana and Nannotrigona perilampoides to sell their honey.

Stingless bees have evolved different ways to protect their honey and larvae from mammals and insects that want to eat them.

Every night, tiny black bees with green eyes called Nannotrigona perilampoides cover the entrance to their nest with a barrier built out of cerumen, a material that stingless bees make by mixing wax with resins they collect from trees and other plants. The smell and stickiness of the resins keep ants away.

Stingless bees also post guard bees at their nest entrance.

And when defensive strategies don’t work, they tangle in their enemies’ hair, bite them with their mandibles and sometimes even coat them with resin.

What is the difference between a honeybee and a stingless bee?

Honeybee is the common name for a dozen or so species in the genus Apis. Apis mellifera, the Western or European honeybee, and Apis cerana, the Eastern or Asian honeybee, are kept worldwide because they’re very productive. Their workers, all female, use stingers to protect their hives.

Stingless bees, also known as meliponines, produce smaller amounts of honey than honeybees, though some species are very productive.

Both honeybees and stingless bees live in colonies with worker bees and queens.

Does the honey of stingless bees have beneficial health properties?

In Latin America and Asia, stingless bee honey is sold as a health product to treat ailments like sore throats.

Honeys from both stingless bees and honeybees have hydrogen peroxide, which is antimicrobial.

Since stingless bees collect resins, pollen and nectar from a host of plants – many in the rainforest – scientists are studying their honey for chemicals that might have medicinal properties.

“There are really interesting chemicals in there. Some of them have known properties and it’s usually antifungal, antibacterial, even antiviral and antiinflammatory, said entomologist David Roubik, who studied these bees at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. “If all those things apply to every kind of stingless bee, I seriously doubt it. It does depend on what kind of flowers they’ve been visiting and what kind of resin they collect.”

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