The Birth Of The Killer Bee

How did the useful and hardworking honeybees become killers?

Well, that was the fault of Warwick Estevam Kerr and his colleagues. In 1956, these scientists wanted to breed the more aggressive African honeybee with the European honeybee in order to create a new gentle breed that could produce more honey in tropical climates such as Brazil. Unfortunately, in 1957, 26 African queen bees escaped, and they mated with more docile bees. Each Queen started her own swarm and killer bee colonies have been growing in South America and the United States ever since.

Here are some reasons why the Africanized honeybees are known as ‘killer bees’ and are feared all over the world:

1 They are very sensitive and feel threatened very easily. Human perfumes, vibrations from passing vehicles or animal movements can annoy them and trigger an attack. As they are already naturally aggressive, they attack more often and more readily than other honeybees.

2 They swarm more frequently, and form larger swarms than ordinary honeybees. In fact, a single colony can have up to 80,000 bees.

3 They fly much faster and are more determined attackers than other honeybees. They will pursue their target for up to 400 metres.

4 European honeybees take about 30 seconds to sting while the killer bees do it in 3 seconds! What makes it worse is this: each killer bee sting leaves a scent (said to be like ripe bananas) that attracts other killer bees to swarm and join in. One American victim was reported to have more than 8000 stings; he did not survive.

5 While most bee hives are typically above ground, e.g. in trees or roofs of buildings, killer bees can form colonies in holes in the ground. Hence, they could be living anywhere.

6 They look very similar to the European honeybees so they may be mistaken as harmless… until it is too late.