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Africanized Honey Bees
The Truth About Africanized Bees
Gone are the days that beekeepers can work their hives shirtless and glove-less; now they need to wear suits with gloves. Beekeepers had to re-adjust their practices and learn how to work with these more defensive honeybees that were spreading across the continent and outperforming the European honeybees.
When there is an AWESOME swarm during the day, often the first question people asked is, "Are they Africanized bees?" I feel it is necessary to help educate on the history and truth about "Africanized" bees that are frequently called "killer" bees.
First, "in 1956, some colonies of African Honeybees were imported into Brazil, with the idea of cross-breeding them with local populations of Honeybees to increase honey production." These were honeybees that beekeepers on the African continent kept. Often, such bees were utilized on family farms for pollination and to deter elephants from trampling the family's crops. In other words, beekeepers kept them, worked with them, and harvested from them.
Then, these "experimental" bees escaped and bred with the more docile European bees. A hybridized bee was born. "These African bee escapees have since formed hybrid populations with European Honeybees, both feral and from commercial hives" and have spread over most of the Southern United States.
The truth is, "The typical Africanized bee in California has a genome made up of 70 to 80 percent African genes and only 20 to 30 percent European genes, he added.... right now, most of California's Africanized bees are feral."
However, that also means that they have up to 90% of European genes. The dilution of genetics has contributed to bees with Africanized genetics to become docile over time. They CAN and SHOULD be given a chance if a beekeeper specializing in feral bees decides they are manageable.
The Real Problem?
"Most beekeepers prefer European honeybees because Africanized bees are so much more difficult to manage."
"Africanized Honeybees (=Killer Bees) are dangerous because they attack intruders in numbers much greater than European Honeybees."
In addition, feral bees may be likely to abscond and leave the hive more than their European bred counterparts. This means that feral bee removers are not guaranteed years of honey production from the bees they gather. This is also why commercial beekeepers still prefer to use the European bred bees which need chemical treatments to resist disease. (This is still being researched.)
Feral hives must be shown more respect and need removal to be managed by beekeepers as large colonies in walls can get disrupted by vibrations such as lawnmowers and intruders such as rats which will make them grouchy. We now need to show bee’s greater respect.
Thankfully, they usually only chase the intruder if there is brood present (swarms do not have brood). Foraging and swarming bees are still docile, and they usually leave you alone if you are near the hive but are not intruding. African bee sting cases can become profoundly serious, but they remain relatively rare.
Defensive behavior is based on the percentage of how many African genes the colony has. Feral colonies could only be 10% Africanized and 90% European and still be the sweetest bees. Then there are colonies that even beekeepers cannot manage, and the worst must happen. This is the same with stray animals of any sort.
Feral hives must be shown more respect and need removal to be managed by beekeepers as large colonies in walls can get disrupted by vibrations such as lawnmowers and intruders such as rats which will make them grouchy. We now need to show bee’s greater respect.
Well, many beekeepers are willing to manage these bees and "considers it a possibility that tropical honeybees are a blessing to beekeepers and honey producers. Currently, colony collapse disorder is decimating many temperate European honeybee colonies. Tropical honeybees, however, are flourishing.”
Why? "Africanized bees ... appear to be more resistant to certain diseases and parasites compared to European bees. In fact, there are many studies that back up this claim. One study, published in 2010 in the journal Experimental and Applied Acarology, found that Africanized bees may be more resistant to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor (an insidious foe inside bee colonies) because of the bees' grooming behaviors and the lowered fertility of the mites inside the brood, or honeycomb of the Africanized hive."
Since they are more resistant and flourish without treatments, chemicals are unnecessary to keep them healthy. This is overall better for their long-term survival, better for the environment, cheaper for the beekeeper, and better for bellies since they tend to produce more honey as well. They may be the very bees to save the species from becoming endangered as other bee species have.
Yet, the following is the public policy of the CA State Beekeepers Association: "In the interest of public safety, CSBA policy is to eradicate feral swarms in known Africanized Honeybee areas." That would mean that ALL feral colonies in California would need to be eradicated!
Instead, treatment free beekeepers monitor the behavior of feral colonies removed with the "Live Bee Removal and Relocation Best Practices" adopted by many beekeepers in California.
So, rather than be afraid, call a treatment free beekeeper that handles heritage feral bees, for removal. It is in our best interest as a species to save them and allow them to be monitored for behavior and placed in locations accordingly.
So, if you ask a beekeeper if those wild bees are Africanized, you may get a lengthy answer, but the short answer is they have a 70% chance of having at least 10% of Africanized genes. That also means that they have over a 90% chance of being manageable.
But could it end up helping us?
The "killer bee" is one of the most feared animals on the planet.
The "killer bee" is one of the most feared animals on the planet.
Apparently he succeeded – these bees, in the right climate, do outperform non-hybrid bees in honey production – but one of Kerr’s assistants made history by accidentally releasing these hybridized bees into the wilderness.
The bees, which would later become known as Africanized bees, proved wildly invasive and aggressive, crossbreeding themselves with any bee colony they came across as they spread throughout the Americas. They first made their way into the United States in 1985, in Texas, and have now been reported as far afield as Tennessee, Utah, and northern California.
It is not easy to tell Africanized bees from non-Africanized bees at first glance; theoretically, their wings might be a bit shorter, but the only foolproof way to tell is to perform a DNA test to look for African honeybee DNA. That means there is a spectrum of Africanization; bees can have an exceedingly small or an exceptionally large percentage of African honeybee DNA depending on their heritage.
Bees, including the Africanized hybrid bees, are not known for attacking without provocation; these bees do not fly around trying to find people to sting.
But their behavior is certainly different: They maintain the traits of quickness to attack, the legitimately scary tendency to chase potential threats, and a much greater willingness to sting. Even though the venom in an Africanized honeybee is no greater or more dangerous than in any other bee, an Africanized bee swarm is much more likely to attack in great numbers, meaning that deaths from Africanized bee swarms are much more common. That said! Bees, including the Africanized hybrid bees, are not known for attacking without provocation; these bees do not fly around trying to find people to sting. They simply react much more aggressively to threats than other bees.
The spread of the Africanized bee is showing no signs of abating, though it’s unclear that these bees, with their love of hot climates, can tolerate the winters of the Northeast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest.
Some experts are even considering that Africanized bees, which may be more resistant to colony collapse disorder than other bees, could actually prove to be a boon to efforts to save bees. The research is young and limited, but if it ends up saving our bees, we may owe more to Kerr’s clumsy assistant than we ever thought possible.
The "killer bee" is one of the most feared animals on the planet.
The "killer bee" is one of the most feared animals on the planet.
The "killer bee" is one of the most feared animals on the planet.
In the Bay Area town of Concord, a seemingly unprovoked swarm of bees went on a rampage, attacking the beekeeper trying to relocate them and stinging everything in their path. Tragically, two neighborhood dogs were among the casualties. The incident dominated the San Francisco-area news for weeks. Subsequent mitochondrial DNA testing revealed that the bees were not Africanized, but the event brought the concept of "killer bees" back into the spotlight. Although Africanized bees have not been a major news topic since the 1990s, this event served as a stark reminder of their persistent presence.
Here is some background: Honeybees are not native to the Americas; they were introduced in the early 1600s. The most common species worldwide is the Western honeybee, which has several subspecies adapted to different regions of Europe, Asia, and North Africa. These subspecies exhibit variations in behavior, breeding, and life cycles.
The African honeybee, native to central and southern Africa, is one such subspecies. While its sting is no more dangerous than that of other bees, its behavior is notably more aggressive. African honeybees tend to launch multiple attackers against any perceived threat and are less desirable for commercial honey production due to their tendency to abandon their hives during threats. They produce less honey and have a peculiar tendency to flee, leaving their hives behind.
However, African honeybees excel in breeding and hive-building, outpacing other bees in these activities. They prioritize pollen collection, which feeds their young, over nectar collection, which is more easily converted into honey for adult bees. European honeybees produce more honey because they need to store food for winter.
In the 1950s, Brazilian scientist Warwick Kerr aimed to combine the African honeybee's prolific breeding and warm-weather adaptations with the European honeybee's superior honey production. He crossbred the African bee with an Italian variety of the European honeybee, resulting in the Africanized honeybee.