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Professor finds art in science of honeybees

By Meredith Mescher

Photo by Zachary Huang Zachary Huang's artistic photo gallery is categorized by type of bee, insect or flower. Prints can be purchased from the site in different sizes, priced from $5 to $20. Photo gifts like mouse pads, coasters and postcards are also available.

Science and art don’t usually go together. But Zachary Huang, associate professor of entomology at MSU, would have to disagree.

Huang has been studying honeybees for more than 20 years and has devoted several Web sites to his honeybee photography.

After getting a degree in plant pathology and entomology at Hunan Agricultural University in China in 1982, Huang won a scholarship to the University of Guelph in Canada where he earned a doctorate. The only entomology scholarship offered to Huang specialized in the study of honeybees.

“I had never even tasted honey before that,” Huang said. “I was fascinated and decided to stick with honeybees.”

Huang’s interest in bees has taken him to places like Africa, Thailand and the Philippines for entomology conferences.

At a recent conference for beekeepers, Huang was asked to talk about his photography methods for capturing bees. He finds that digital cameras are ideal for photographing bees and posting them on his Web sites.

Photo by Zachary Huang Zachary Huang's online art gallery features hundreds of photos of bees in nature. Huang's research of honeybees led to a broader interest in the beauty of bees, inspiring him to buld his gallery of artistic prints.

One of Huang’s online photo galleries includes more than 700 captioned and catalogued photos about honeybee biology.

“I want people who visit my Web sites to appreciate the complexity of honeybee societies and to see how pretty they are,” Huang said.

Several of Huang’s bee photos have been used as cover photos in scientific journals and his primary Web site was named “Best Pick” by the NetWatch section of the journal Science in 2001.

One of Huang’s sites has a link to photos of people eating bees, which is more common in Asia than the United States.

“When bees are cooked they have a dry, sweet flavor, like a french fry,” Huang said.

Huang’s love of bees has led him to teach beekeeping as part of MSU Extension. He also invented a new device called the Spartan Mite Zapper to protect honeybees from the Varroa mite, a honeybee pest, and a patent was granted to MSU. 

Huang’s primary Web page is at cyberbee.msu.edu

To view more honeybee photos, visit photo.bees.net/gallery

To view Huang’s artistic photo gallery, visit beetography.com