Abstract <p>Honeycomb, as a thin-walled structure, has excellent energy absorption characteristics and is widely used in aerospace and automotive industries. In this paper, the quasi-static compression experiments of traditional hexagonal aluminum honeycomb structures with different apertures are carried out under axial load. The stress-strain curves and deformation modes are analyzed, the specific energy absorption of the structure is calculated, and the influence of the aperture on the energy absorption characteristics is determined. Based on the hybrid strategy, five new bionic honeycomb structures evolved from the traditional hexagonal honeycomb structure were designed, and a quasi-static compression simulation model was established for the new bionic honeycomb structure. The reliability of the simulation model was verified by the experimental results. The results showed that the energy absorption characteristics of the five new bionic honeycomb structures were superior to the traditional hexagonal honeycomb structures. Among them, Hg type bionic honeycomb structure has the best energy absorption characteristics, and its specific energy absorption is 16.93 J/g. Using the sensitivity analysis method, it was determined that the wall thickness <i>t</i> and the aperture ρ had the greatest influence on energy absorption. A mathematical optimization model was established, and NSGA-II algorithm was used to solve the Pareto optimal front solution to determine the optimal optimization scheme. The specific energy absorption of the optimized Hg bionic honeycomb structure was increased by 3.90%, respectively, compared with that before optimization and that of the traditional hexagonal honeycomb structure 18.21%.</p>