MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Killer bees disrupted the burial of
a man in the western Mexican state of Nayarit Tuesday and stung
60 people, official news agency Notimex reported.
The Africanized honeybees swarmed out of a nest in the ground
as mourners were at a burial in the cemetery of the village of
Puerta de Magos, Notimex said.
The injured were treated at a nearby hospital, and returned to
the ceremony once police chased off the bees using a mixture of
insecticide, soap and water.
Africanized honey bees are a hybrid of European bees and an aggressive
African import introduced to Brazil in 1956 for interbreeding.
Some 26 colonies escaped into the wild in 1957, and the insects
have been moving steadily north through Latin America at a rate
of about 300 miles (480 km) a year.
The aggressive bees reached Texas in 1990. They have killed people
in Argentina and Costa Rica.
- Submitted by Jeanne Klafin, aka "Boom-Boom"
Many people are afraid of killer bees due to media hype and movies,
and the resulting panic spreads to a fear of all bees in general.
Actually, there are numerous subscpeices, or races, of bees all
over the world, such as honeybees, bumblebees, carpenter bees,
solitary bees, and so forth. Many of these bees have very different
characteristics than other subspecies within the bee universe.
The common honeybee found in North America, Apis Mellifera, is
usually fairly docile and will only sting humans when their hive
or queen is threatened. These bees, of course, leave their stinger
behind in the victim, and therefore die shortly thereafter stinging.
Bees are really almost a superorganism: the individual matters
little compared to the survival of the whole hive. The honeybee
is "European" in nature, as it is a culmination of many
different races of bees brought to the U.S. over a number of years.
The "killer bee", however, is scientifically known as
Apis mellifera scutellata, and differs from the "European"
honeybee in several ways. The "African" or "Africanized"
honey bee, as the killer bee is also known, stings far more than
the European honey bee and also reproduces more quickly. The reason
for this is because in Africa, bees are not cultivated by beekeepers
as much as they are in the U.S. and Europe. Therefore, they developed
greater natural resistance to predators and enemies, of which
they have more than their European counterparts. Only the most
defensive bees could survive. European bees, however, were bred
to ensure that they focused on producing and storing more honey
for the long winters, rather than developing their defensive characteristics.
While the African bees were not a problem in Africa, these bees
were introduced by humans to South America in the 1950's. The
reasoning behind this move was that African bees would be better
adabted to a tropical climate, and could therefore be interbred
with European bees for more successful honey harvesting. While
the African bees certainly did fare well in the tropical climate,
they were not really suited for beekeeping like the more mild-mannered
European bees. The Africanized bees quickly took over many areas,
causing beekeepers to abandon their apiaries, and their population
grew rapidly. "Killer bees" produce a greater amount
of "alarm" pheromone than European honeybees, which
causes the bees to attack more readily, and pursue their victims
up to a mile from the nest. They also stay agitated for longer,
sometimes up to several days. These "killer" bees are
now common throughout South and Central American, and are known
to exist in several parts of the Southern United States.
As you can see, these bees are not exactly "killer"
bees, although they are aggressive and humans should indeed be
wary of them. Several "solutions" to the killer bee
problem have been suggested, from public education to avoidance
to replacing the queens, but perhaps the most important thing
to be done is to take a hard look at the facts and learn a lesson.
The reason there is a "killer bee" problem is because
human beings tried to meddle in nature once again by bringing
the bees into a habitat that was not their natural one. Although
European honeybees have been bred and colonized by humans, this
process has been taking place over hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of years. It is not wise to take any sort of animal or insect
and place it in a foreign environment with no regards to the consequences.
For more information on killer bees, check out these web sites,
which were obtained from the International Bee Reseach Association
Africanized Honey Bees (Florida, USA)
http://hammock.ifas.ufl.edu/txt/fairs/mg/11816.html
Behavior Characteristics of the Africanized Bees, Apis mellifera
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Entomology/courses/en507/student_papers_1995/sears.html
AHB Infopage
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/ahb/index.html
General Information regarding the Africanized Honey Bee (AHB)
gopher://sun1.oardc.ohio-state.edu/00/bioag/bee-info/africanized.bees/general
brose
Did you know there was a patron saint of beekeepers? I found
this on an apitherapy web site, honeybeehealthproducts.com:
The early Christian church appreciated the important work of beekeepers
and designated Saint Ambrose as their patron. Here he is depicted
in an icon painted by Maryland artist and beekeeper, Adele Morris.
According to legend, a swarm of bees alighted on Ambrose's mouth
when he was a baby, foretelling his gift of eloquence, as suggested
by the expression "honeyed words."
For more info on Bee venom therapy:
http://www.beevenom.com
The American Apitherapy Society,Inc.
P.O. Box 54
Hartland Four Corners, VT.05049,
(Voice) 800-823-3460 (Fax) 802-436-2827
(International) 802-436-2708
I have recently acquired many, many new bee items since the
last issue of TOS. Here are
just a few. Many of these were generous presents from friends
and loved ones, as noted below. I'm sure I am forgetting lots
of things but here are just a few I can think of off the top of
my head.
Some gifts:
An actual killer bee embedded in plastic - and it's a ring!
From Josh :)
A silver bee bracelet - from Josh.
A bee enamel pin - from Josh.
Plastic lawn bees with spinning wings - Josh
A bee silver pin with topaz (my birthstone) - Josh's parents
Bee lights - from Alex and Sean
An entire bee desk set! (desk blotter, pencil holder, address
book, etc.) from Alex and Sean
Bee shopping bag - from Emily
Various cartoons and articles about bees - Mikey Dee
Bee magnet - from the band Honey and the Bees
Self-purchased items:
Bee plastic cup
Bee trivet
Bee dishtowel
Bee hair barrettes
A roll of bee stickers - many hundreds of them.
The great bee-ALFmug trade started when I spotted a bee mug in the new office where I work. I told the guy who owned the bee mug, Jaime, "Nice mug." I then added, in the understatement of the year, "I like bees." You see, I already had my eyes on that mug for myself and I didn't want to scare him off right away. Over the next few days, I began to let Jaime know about my bee obsession. "I really, realy like bees," I would tell him. "I have a zine dedicated to bees. I have bee pajamas, bee shirts, but no bee mug." "Mmm hmm," he would respond. Finally, one day I cornered Jaime and said, "I want that mug! What do I have to do to get it?" "Well, if you could find an ALF mug I would trade you." Alf, of course, is that wacky alien from '80s television fame. I went on the web and promptly found an ALF mug that said "Party Alien" for auction on e-bay. Seeing as ALF mugs are not in high demand, I was the highest bidder at $3.00. The ALF mug was mine! It was being shipped here from Canada. I informed Jaime and he was happy. Then came the hard part - the waiting. People in the office remarked that it was like an international peace talk, with negotiations, international travel, and a long time period involved. Finally, the ALF mug arrived and Jaime and I promptly traded mugs. I now happily sip my coffee out of my bee mug every morning, and Jaime is content to look at the words "Party Alien" as he gets his daily dose of caffeine.