Deadly Killer Bees!

9 months ago Nature

killer beePhoto: pinkgranite

Killer bees are a hybrid of European honey bees and the African honey bee. Officially, they are called Africanized honey bees, as they are descendants of 26 Tanzanian queen bees accidentally released in Brazil in the '50s. Regular American or European bees have been bred to be gentle; but because African bees have had to fight more to save their hives – from other hostile insects, the honey badger, and humans who came to rob them – they have evolved a natural ferocity. Killer bees swarm further, are more aggressive and are easier to anger...

killer beePhoto: Austinevan

There are many public misconceptions about killer bees, one of the main ones being the notion that the sting itself is more powerful or more poisonous than that of regular honey bees – which isn't true. However, if there are more bees and they are more aggressive, victims will receive more stings, which can cause a much stronger reaction!

Above is a video of presenter Steve Backshall, from the show Deadly 60 on BBCEarth, filming killer bees 100 feet up in the air!

Written by: Michele Collet

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Comments

Old Comments

ehoneybees says

Nov 3rd, 2011 at 12am
People should do everything possible to save honeybees.

MikeDeHaan says

Aug 13th, 2011 at 12am
From what I understand, the Africanized bees are serious about avenging a fallen sister. Once one stings a person and loses her stinger, other killer bees race to attack that person. Something like the potato chip ad: "Betcha' can't swat just one".