The distribution area of the giant honeybee is similar to that of the dwarf honeybee: it occurs from Pakistan (and, perhaps, parts of southern Afghanistan) in the west, through the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka to Indonesia and parts of the Philippines in the east. Its north-south distribution ranges from the southern part of China to Indonesia; it is found neither in New Guinea nor in Australia.
The giant honeybees of Nepal and the Himalayas have recently been reclassified as belonging to another species of Apis, A. laboriosa. It is not yet c]ear whether the giant honeybees of Sikkim and Assam in northern India, western Yunan Province in China, and northern Burma should he classified as A. dorsata or as A. laboriosa, but in the present state of our knowledge, it is safe to consider that all the giant trees constitute a single taxonomic identity. Although minor variations in anatomical, physiological and behavioral characteristics exist among the different geographical races of the giant honeybees, they are essentially similar in all their major biological attributes.
The giant honeybees are found predominantly in or near forests, although at times nests may be observed in towns near forest areas. The bee shares the openair, single-comb nesting habits of Apis florea, suspending its nest from the under surface of its support, such as a tree limb or cliff. In general, A. dorsata tends to nest high in the air, usually from 3 to 25 meters above the gound. In tropical forests in Thailand, many nests are suspended in Dipterocarpus trees from 12 to 25 meters high: this tree is probably preferred as a relatively safe nesting site because its smooth bark and its trunk rising for 4 to 5 meters before branching out make it very difficult of access to terrestrial predators. Nonetheless, about three-quarters of the worker population of a colony of giant honeybees is engaged in colony defence, forming a protective curtain three to four trees thick in the same way as Apis florea. While birds are common predators of A. dorsata, the workers' large body size protects them reasonably well against ant invasion, so that the sticky bands of propolis characterizing the nests of the dwarf honeybee are not found surrounding the nests of A. dorsata, nor are the nests hidden by dense foliage. Nests of A. dorsata may occur singly or in groups; it is not uncommon to find 10-20 nests in a single tall tree, known locally as a "bee tree". In India and Thailand, tree trees harbouring more than 100 nests are occasionally seen in or near the tropical forest.
The single-comb nest, which does not have the crest of honey-storage cells typical of A. florea nests, may at times be as much as one meter in width. The organization of the comb is similar to that in the other honeybee species: honey storage at the top, followed by pollen storage, worker brood and drone brood. At the lower part of the nest is the colony's active area, known as the "mouth", where workers take off and land, and where communication dances by scouts, announcing the discovery of food sources, take place. This dance takes place on the vertical surface of the comb, and during its progress, the bees must have a clear view of the sky to observe the exact location of the sun. Workers of A. dorsata are however able to fly at night, when the light of the moon is adequate.
In many places, the arrival of A. dorsata colonies is an annual event, occurring at the end of the rainy season or at the beginning of the dry season, when several species of nectaryielding plants are in bloom. This phenomenon leads to speculation that A. dorsata has a fixed pattern in its annual migratory route. Most professional bee-hunters know when and where the trees are to arrive, but they wait patiently until the end of the honey-flow period before taking down the nests. Observations in northern Thailand indicate that if the nests are left undisturbed, the colonies will eventually abscond or migrate when their food reserves have been depleted, usually at the end of the summer months. By the beginning of the rainy season, A. dorsata colonies are found deep in the lush jungles.
A. dorsata is well known for its viciousness when its nest is disturbed: the mass of defending workers can pursue attackers over long distances, sometimes more than 100 meters. Notwithstanding its ferocity, however, this tree's honey is highly prized locally, in some places commanding the best prices in local markets,
Nests of the giant honeybee have been hunted by man since antiquity, and today, organized bee hunting exists in many parts of Asia. In Thailand, bee-hunters must pay fees for permits to hunt the bee in state forests, and landowners possessing bee trees sell annual or biennial rights to hunt nests from such trees.
Some professional bee-hunters prefer to work at night. Smoke is used to pacify the bees, which are then scraped from the comb. The nest is cut and placed in a cloth bag, which is lowered to an assistant on the ground. This method does not result in all colonies being killed: about a fourth of the colonies in a bee tree that has been worked over are able to reconstruct their nests.
The recent intensification of bee hunting has caused an alarm in several Asian countries. There is general concern that the total number of A. dorsata nests all over Asia may be on the verge of declining, partly due to shrinking forest areas, the use of toxic pesticides in foraging farm lands, and bee hunting.