Doug Wechsler / Yellow-plumed parakeets (Leptosittaca branickii) at nest cavity in wax palm stump, Tapichalaca Biological Reserve, Ecuador.

Solvin Zankl / Honey bee (Apis mellifera) honey comb mostly covered with wax, Kiel, Germany, June.

Juan Carlos Munoz / Cheese maturing on shelves in traditional dairy, Triglav National Park, Slovenia, October 2014.

Ammonite / Close-up of Buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) repairing a wax cell containing eggs inside nest, France, May.

Ammonite / Close-up of Buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) repairing a wax cell containing eggs inside nest, France, May.

Ammonite / Buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) removing pollen baskets from back legs into a wax honey pot in nest, France, May.

Ammonite / Tracking shot into the entrance of a Buff-tailed bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) nest, showing larvae in wax cells, France, May.

Ammonite / Close-up of Buff-tailed bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) inside nest feeding on honey from wax honey pots, France, May.

Ammonite / Buff-tailed bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) inside nest, with wax cells containing honey, France, May.

Andrew Walmsley / Silver eye / Grey backed white eye (Zosterops lateralis) in flowering Pohutukawa tree (Metrosideros excelsa) Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, December

Stephen Dalton / Honey bee (Apis mellifera) filling honey storage cells in the hive, UK

Nigel Bean / Meadow Wax Cap {Hygrocybe pratensis} in grassland, Ashton Court, Bristol, UK.