3-Minute Insect Essential #12 from the INSECT NEWS NETWORK

HONEYMOON: Honey Sweet Week Part 2 – INN #12. To hear the full show, visit www.insectnewsnetwork.com and type in the number 12 - that's pound 12 in the search bar.

Everyone's heard that the canine is man's best friend. Humans domesticated the canine over 15,000 years ago. But which animal came next: the horse? the cow? The chicken?

Well, based on a cave painting in Valencia Spain, the next animal to be domesticated might bee the honey bee. The painting shows a person climbing up vines to harvest honey, with bees flying around.

Even though the image doesn't directly suggest controlled breeding, which is the earmark of domestication, it does hint to a relationship that is as ancient and interdependent as any in the human world. Honey bees and their sweet products represent the pinnacle of invertebrate evolution AND the pinnacle of Cultural Entomology.