Honey is a deliciously sweet, viscous substance, the tasty end result of bees collecting, digesting, and drying out sugar-rich nectar. It takes a lot of bees and a lot of work to make honey; to produce just one teaspoon of honey requires the lifetime work of twelve bees. It’s also easily stored safely for decades and has medicinal properties as it’s an antioxidant and can be used to treat burns. And did we mention the delicious part?

There’s little doubt why honey is so popular, but why does so much of it come in bear-shaped bottles?

While the bee would make for the most apparent vessel, honey packaged in little bear-shaped bottles is the norm, highlighting our boundless affinity for cute representations of charismatic megafauna. Bears would become a popular source of inspiration for fictional and cartoon characters at the turn of the century, just after a leap in apiculture innovations that would prime the pump for large-scale honey production.