honey-buzzard, common name for a medium-sized, buzzardlike hawk, Pernis apivorus. The color of its plumage varies, but is predominantly reddish brown, and its tail is marked by three lateral brown bands. As with many birds of prey, the female tends to be larger than the male, with a wingspan of up to 60 in. (152 cm). The honey-buzzard has a pointed, decurved bill, and a unique (among birds of prey) patch between eyes and bill, which is covered with scalelike, rather than large, bristly feathers. It has powerful toes and strong claws. Honey-buzzards are found throughout the Old World, where they feed on a diet of bees, wasps, and honey, which the birds steal from the hives of the insects. In winter, the European and northern Asian members of this species migrate to breeding grounds in Africa and India. The entire breeding season, from nest building to independence of the young, takes as long as five months. For this reason, many breed only every second year. The female lays two white, brown-spotted eggs per clutch, which are incubated for a period of 30 days. Honey-buzzards are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Falconiformes, family Accipitridae.

honey locust, leguminous deciduous tree (Gleditsia triacanthos) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to the eastern half of the United States but planted as a shade tree in many regions of the United States and in other countries, where it is sometimes naturalized. It has heavily fragrant flowers attractive to bees, compound leaves made up of small leaflets, and large branching thorns. The pods, which usually twist with age, are brown, flat, about 12 to 18 in. (30.5-45.7 cm) long, and have a sweet, edible pulp that has been used to make beer. Pulp of Asian species has substituted for soap. Wood of the honey locust is durable and has been used chiefly for fence posts and crossties. A thornless variety is widely planted in the N United States as a street tree. Other trees called locust belong to the same family. The honey locust is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae.

honey bear: see bear; kinkajou.

honey badger or ratel, carnivore, Mellivora capensis, of the forest and brush country of Africa, the Middle East, and India; it is a member of the badger and skunk family. Related to the wolverine and martens, as shown by the resemblance in teeth, the honey badger resembles in fossorial form and perhaps in its fierce disposition the true badgers. The honey badger has short legs and stout claws and is a strong burrower and a good climber. About 2 ft (61 cm) long excluding the tail, it has a coat that is black on the lower half of the body and pale gray above. The honey badger resembles its distant relative the skunk in coloration and in the possession of an anal scent gland. It is nocturnal, feeds on rodents, reptiles, and insects, and has a thick loose coat that protects it against snake bites and insect stings. The honey badger collaborates with the honeyguide, or indicator bird, in obtaining honey, a favorite food. The bird searches for a bee colony, and when one is found, the honey badger rips it open. The bird and the honey badger then share the honey. Honey badgers travel singly or in pairs. The young, usually two, are born in burrows. Honey badgers are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Carnivora, family Mustelidae.

honey, sweet, viscid fluid produced by honeybees from the nectar of flowers. The nectar is taken from the flower by the worker bee and is carried in the honey sac back to the hive. It is transformed into honey by enzymes produced in the honey sac, which convert the natural sucrose (a complex sugar) in the nectar into fructose and glucose (simple sugars). The sugary fluid is stored in open cells, which are capped with wax when the material has reached the consistency of honey. The formation of honey is accomplished by the evaporation of the excess water in air circulated by the moving wings of workers. The honey required for an average colony to maintain itself through a year has been estimated as being between 400 and 500 lb (180-225 kg). The excess of the hive's requirement is used by humans for food. Honey is marketed either in the comb or with the comb removed by straining, by centrifugal force, or by gravity. The flavor and color of honey depend upon the kind of flower from which the nectar was taken, e.g., linden honey, lavender honey, and wild rose honey. Much of that produced in the United States is the pale, delicately flavored alfalfa and clover honey. Among the numerous other blossoms yielding nectar are those of the basswood, buckwheat, orange, palmetto, sage, and tupelo. The leading producers of honey are Argentina, Australia, Canada, and the United States. From earliest times until cane sugar became commercially important, honey was a major sweetening agent. Honey is easily absorbed and utilized by the body. It contains about 70% to 80% sugar; the rest is water, minerals and traces of protein, acids, and other substances.

or honey bear

Smallest member (Helarctos malayanus) of the bear family (Ursidae), found in South Asian forests. Nocturnal and tree-climbing, the sun bear weighs 60–140 lbs (27–64 kg) and is 3–4 ft (1–1.2 m) long, with a 2-in. (5-cm) tail, large forepaws, and short black fur with an orange-yellow crescent on the chest. It uses its long, curved claws to tear or dig for insect nests, particularly those of bees and termites. It also eats fruit, honey, and small vertebrates. The sun bear is shy and intelligent; legends say that its chest crescent represents the sun.

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Sweet, viscous liquid food, golden in colour, produced in the honey sacs of various bees from the nectar of flowers. Honey has played an important role in human nutrition since ancient times; until about 250 years ago, it was almost the sole sweetening agent. Honey is often produced on a commercial scale from clover (Trifolium) or sweet clover (Melilotus) by the domestic honeybee. The nectar is ripened into honey by inversion of most of its sucrose into the sugars levulose (fructose) and dextrose (glucose) and the removal of excess moisture. Honey is stored in the beehive or nest in a honeycomb, a double layer of uniform hexagonal cells constructed of beeswax and propolis (a plant resin). The honey is used in winter as food for the bee larvae and other members of the colony. Honey extracted for human consumption is usually heated to destroy fermentation-causing yeasts and then strained. Seealso beekeeping.

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