Africanised honey bees originated as crosses between the African honey bee and various European honey bees. They are all descended from 26 Tanzanian queen bees which were released accidentally in Brazil in 1957. These queens mated with local drones and formed new colonies.
In Brazil they are sometimes known as Assassin Bees because it is said that they take over the hives of European Bees. The ‘Assassin’ Queen is said to wait outside the hive while some of her workers go in and kill the resident queen. She is then supposed to enter and take control of the colony, giving birth to a new ‘Killer’ colony. There does seem to be some evidence that this behaviour actually occurs. First because the very small swarms that leave ‘Killer’ hives would be too small to survive unless the ‘took over’ another hive. Second from DNA studies which indicate that there might be two distinct ‘lines’ of ‘Killer Bees’, one descended directly from original escaped queens and the other from more conventional matings with local drones.
Although they are undoubtedly dangerous Africanised Bees are now popular with beekeepers in Central America because they can be more productive than European Bees in tropical conditions. Their sting is no worse than that of the European Honey Bee, but the problem is that they are much more defensive of their territory and hive. When they attack the do so in large numbers, and the results can be fatal, but it should be remembered that poisonous snakes kill more people in the U.S. each year.
As ‘Killer Bees’ began to spread north into the U.S. attempts were made to stop them at the Panama Canal, but they got through. They reached Texas in 1990 and Florida in 2002, and it seems that people will just have to learn to live with them. A fit person can run faster than bees can fly, so the best advice seems to be ‘run away’ if attacked. But beware! They can stay ‘angry’ for days, and if you try ‘hiding’ from them they will simply wait! Many stories are reported in the U.S. media each year.
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