Africanized Bees

Hello there, my name is Jesus and after forgiving everyone's sins and saving the entire human race, I decided to join iGEM to save the bees this time. Just kidding I couldn't even save my goldfish when I was 6... but I'll try my best to save the bees I promise. Anyways, so it was my turn to write a blog and I asked myself, "What is a good bee-related topic to write about?" It didn't take me too long to find the answer; I wanted to write the Barry Benson bee-ography. However, I realized it takes books to describe the life of such an almighty character, so I'll leave that to the professional writers that actually know what they're doing.

Instead, I will explain briefly what you need to know about a particular bee subspecies: the deadly and aggressive Africanized bee.


Barry Benson PhD, exchanging highly cultural interests with followers.

The Africanized bee is one of the 29 recognized subspecies of the honey bee (Apis mellifera). It is a hybrid emerging from the cross-breeding of multiple European honey bees (A. mellifera ligustica and A. mellifera iberiensis) and the East African lowland honey bee. Thus, it is called the Africanized bee (A. mellifera scutellata), or more lovingly, the "killer" bee.

This subspecies appeared for the first time in 1956 as African bees were imported to Brazil in an attempt to cross-breed them and maximize the honey production. Unfortunately, a number of sneaky African queen bees escaped from specialized facilities a year later, just like a teenager escaping the house at midnight on a quest for a dopamine rush facilitated by alcohol. The bees didn't get the punishment of their lives though; instead, they settled all over the continent and causing the death of approximately 1,000 people in the process.

How dangerous are Killer Bees?

Even though Africanized bees can be a little intimidating at first glance, they are not as apocalyptic as Hollywood presents them. As a matter of fact, the venom released by Africanized bees is the same as the venom released by European bees.

The main difference between the two is, in fact, that Killer Bees would attack much faster and more aggressively; they will attack even if seemingly unprovoked. Even wearing a strong perfume and walking near a hive of Africanized bees would be enough to upset them. They become more defensive than Mexicans when they hear that TacoTime has the best tacos on Earth.



Statistics provide that Africanized bees attack in greater numbers compared to other subspecies. More precisely, it is 10 times more likely to get stung when attacked by these raging bugs. European bees would normally defend their hive by staying in it and attacking the intruder with only a few bees (10-20 bees), whereas Killer Bees would chase the intruder at high speeds for long distances with an army of about 100. The Africanized honey bee takes no chances; it will defend the hive in situations that would normally be ignored by European honey bees.

Recognizing Africanized Bees

Aside from the behavioural dissimilarities pointed out above, differentiating Africanized and European bees based on appearance is no easy task, especially when they're all flying all around you and you're trying not to panic. Even though cautious morphological tests are performed to determine exact physical differences between them, one notices a colour and size change when analyzed side-by-side; Africanized bees are larger and darker compared to other species.


Comparison between Africanized and European bees

A remarkable distinction are the locations where the two types of colonies establish their hives. European bees build their nests in large and broad areas such as tree hollows and house chimneys. On the counterpart, Killer Bees are not as picky selecting their spot, as they can settle in even more confined spaces like holes in the concrete or even hanging off a tree branch. This subspecies also has the capacity of invading a European hive and taking over it. They do this by settling the Africanized colony, including their queen bee, near a European hive. They proceed to exchange resources (e.g. food and pheromones) to ensure adoption of European worker bees, and lastly the European queen bee mysteriously disappears and just like that, the European hive becomes Killer Bee territory.

A Remarkable Attack

To give you an idea of the magnitude of an attack, I'll give you a couple of examples. In October 2014, a news source reported the case of a lawn care worker in Arizona who was killed by a swarm of 800,00 killer bees. The worker was not alone at the time; his colleagues were also stung approximately 100 times but they were lucky enough to survive. This atrocious attack was provoked when the workers turned on their lawn mowers in an attempt to treat a lawn, but such a bothering noise disturbed a big hive sitting in the attic and the rest is history.

A more recent event took place a couple of months ago. A man in southern Mexico carrying firewood encountered an angry swarm of Africanized bees. He was able to escape a first attack leaving his stuff behind and running as fast as he could. However, when coming back for his cargo, the man received a second attack where bees stung him presumably at least 500 times.



Ultimately, Africanized or not, it is best to treat all bees equally. When approached by any kind of bee, it is recommended not to panic in order to avoid any sudden movements that may cause the bee to feel threatened. If approached by a raging swarm, experts suggest you should run against the wind as fast as possible. This makes it more difficult for bees to keep up with you. Jumping into water may not be so effective all the time especially with killer bees, as they persevere when defending a hive and you have to get your head out of the water at some point to breathe.

Now that you are somewhat familiar with the most aggressive bee subspecies, I hope this article did not worsen your irrational bee fear. Thanks for your time, and I hope you never have to deal with a swam of Africanized bees in your life.

References

"Africanized Bees." Smithsonian Institution. Accessed July 03, 2019.

Alexander, Harriet. "Swam of 800,000 Bees Kill Man in Arizona." The Telegraph, October 09, 2014. Accessed July 2, 2019.

Ellis, Jamie, and Amanda Ellis. "Africanized Honey Bee - Apis mellifera scutellata." Africanized Honey Bee - Apis mellifera scutellata  Lepeletier. January 2008. Accessed July 03, 2019.

Ojar, Christina. "Africanized Honey Bee." Introduced Species Summary Project. March 1, 2002. Accessed July 03, 2019.

Vasquez, Herlindo. "Abejas Asesinas Provocan La Muerte a Senecto En Chetumal." Turquesa News, May 1, 2019. Accessed July 02, 2019.

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- Jesus H.