mysteries

Curtis came by today with wax cappings from this summer's honey extraction to melt down into solid chunks of beeswax. We postponed the project because the Decatur High students who were supposed to be here had exams, but Curtis pointed out an interesting phenomenon to me.

When he had placed the cappings in the tray, he left them out for the bees to clean up a little. Later, they were transformed from flakes into little pellets, the size of rabbit droppings (what else is that size?) Mystified by this change of form, Curtis kept an eye on the area where he left the tray out. Turns out, possums came to nibble on the wax, attracted by the tiny bit of honey still stuck to it. Then they spit it out in the form of little balls. So I guess that is how much beeswax a possum can stuff in its toothy little mouth at one time--a rabbit-dropping-sized amount.