During the 1950's Brazilian scientists imported African bees from Africa hoping they could develop a strain of honey bee that would flourish in the South American climate, and improve honey production. Some of these, imported, bees escaped into the wild and began to breed with local honeybees. The new, accidental, strain of bee was called the Africanized honeybee, and later earned the ominous nickname, “killer bee.”
A solitary sting from an Africanized bee is not enough to kill a human being unless the victim is allergic to the venom from the sting. The bees draw their name from the way they will swarm and then attack the unlucky victim. Africanized bees are an extremely vicious type of honeybee when it comes to protecting their hive. Disturbing a nest can result in the bees being aggravated for 24 hours, chasing after any unsuspecting person or animal that comes to close to their territory.
“Killer bees,” have been moving, slowly, north for the last 15 years. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California have all reported the presence of Africanized bees in their states. The migration is troubling because the more the bees encounter populated areas; the more people and animals will be attacked. A common myth with “killer bees,” is that the bees' potent sting results in death. The truth is an Africanized bee has the same amount of venom in its sting as a regular honeybee, but the Africanized bee attacks in a swarm and could cause death from the number of stings a person receives. Death from these attacks is, actually, extremely rare; instead the bees are more of a threat to agriculture and honey production. Brazil ranked fourth in honey production before the Africanized bee found its way into South America. After the bee began to breed with local honeybees, Brazil found its world rank had dropped in honey production to 27th in the by the early nineties.
If you disturb, what you think, is a “killer bee,” hive and the bees attack be sure to run, and try to keep your head covered. Africanized bees are slow in flight and a relatively healthy person should be able to outrun them. Run straight and fast, and contrary to what we see on the television, never jump into water and submerge. Swarming Africanized bees will wait for you to submerge so it is best to avoid the water at all costs. Definitely seek medical attention if you are stung repeatedly and do not try to pull the stingers out with your fingers as this could cause more venom to be inadvertently squeezed into your body. Take a blunt device or use a hard plastic card, like a credit card, and try to scrape the stinger off.
“Killer bees,” are migrating north slowly but surely, and are becoming a concern not only for their aggressive behavior, but for the impact they will certainly have on honey production in the United States. Regular honeybees are capable of producing five times the amount of honey that an Africanized bee hive would make. If their migration continues, in the years to come, Americans may well be seeking another way of gathering honey as America consumes, roughly, 275 million pounds of the sweet stuff in a year. The flight of the “killer bee,” will eventually affect all of America and her sweet toothed residents, and honey could someday become a rare, and expensive treat.
