Dr. Wyatt A. Mangum is the author of the highly acclaimed and comprehensive book Top-Bar Hive Beekeeping: Wisdom & Pleasure Combined about sustainable beekeeping practices.
For the 2015 edition of the reference volume The Hive and the Honey Bee, Dr. Mangum wrote the chapters “A Brief History of Beekeeping in the United States” and “Honey Bee Genetics and Breeding.”
In addition, Dr. Mangum contributed the chapter “Animal Communication: Honey bees dancing in the dark” for the textbook Language in the Real World: An Introduction to Linguistics, edited by Drs. Susan Behrens and Judith Parker.
Beginning at the age of 10, Dr. Mangum has kept bees and studied their behavior for over 50 years.
Since the 1970’s, Dr. Mangum has collected antique beekeeping equipment, and he has used the historical perspective he has gained as a consultant in developing countries.
Dr. Mangum has served as a volunteer beekeeping consultant to help struggling beekeepers in India, Bangladesh, and Bolivia.
His travels have taken him to Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand as well, to study the many different species of bees and their ecosystems.
Dr. Mangum has written his monthly column for the American Bee Journal since the late 1990’s on a variety of topics including honey bee biology and apicultural history.
He is a former Editor-in Chief of Apiacta, the international scientific online publication of Apimondia, the world congress of beekeepers and bee scientists.
Dr. Mangum is a popular speaker at beekeeping meetings with numerous requests each year.
His academic degrees are a B.S. in Physics from Virginia Polytechnic & State University, an M.S. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Genetics, both from North Carolina State University.
For more information about sustainable beekeeping practices and top-bar hive beekeeping, see