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      Africanized honeybees (AHB) have been glorified by the cinema, and feared by European Honeybee keepers because of their aggressiveness.

     Native to the tropical Savanna Country of Eastern and Southern Africa, Brazilian scientists exported 26 colonies to Brazil in 1956.  Their theory was to increase honey production.

      The AHB’s constant honey production and consumption of the honey intrigued the Brazilian scientists.  This made the scientists think the AHB could somehow be hybrid into domestic honey producers.  Gambling on that theory, they tried breeding the better part of the aggressive characteristic out of the AHB.

      The Brazilian scientists found that the AHB have learned to respond to danger quickly, and have been documented to

     The AHB have proved to be completely and extremely instinctive.  They can work as a team, or as an individual depending on the situation.

  If there is a threat toward the colony, the workers that sense a threat, will fly instinctively, and speedily into the hive making a high-pitched sound in alarm.  Once inside, and on all feet, they will raise their back abdomen upward causing their stinger to extend and retract releasing pheromone.  This scent alarms the other workers in range, causing the majority of the workers to respond to the threat.   If the queen senses that the threat is too great for the workers and guards to handle, she may respond by swarming to another place to nest, and begin another hive.  

      The AHB collective hive may be located almost anywhere you would see a hive of bees.  It can be completely open and exposed to the outside

respond to threats very much quicker then their European counterparts, (EHB-European Honey Bees).   AHB stings towards that threat can be as many as 3 to 5 times more then EHB stings in the same situation.

      AHB have learned to fly radically around flowers in a zigzag motion while foraging, and have developed a system of flying radically and not directly into their hive, without stopping at the front lip, as most bees will.  This evades possible predators waiting at the mouth of their nest to snatch them as they arrive with pollen.  As a result of their highly adapted nature, some of the AHB queens and workers soon escaped from the holding areas in Brazil and expanded their territories throughout the warmer areas of Brazil.

"The AHB have proved to be  completely and extremely  instinctive.  They can work as  a team, or as an individual  depending on the situation."

and fresh pollen in order to support the enormous needs of her collective.   If the temperature is less then 70 degrees Fahrenheit, her flight may be much shorter and hastier in finding a place to nest, serving only as a temporary place until the weather gets warmer.

     The AHB have two Achilles heels; their sensitivity to climate, and their need for more food faster then the EHB.  The European Honey Bee will save their honey for the winter weather, the AHB have no need to save their honey.   When the AHB escaped from their holding areas in Brazil, they expanded into Central and South America, as well as, into Mexico and then the Southern parts of the United States.  Because of the frequent AHB swarming and rapid growth habits, they centralized in areas of perfect climate.   This would be a climate without the sudden changes of the seasons from warm to cold, and at a constant temperature ranging between 65 degrees Fahrenheit, to 79 degrees Fahrenheit.

      The AHB queen is known for watching the consumption of honey and sensing when workers are flying too far from the hive and coming back without a certain quantity of pollen to process into honey.  As the hive gets lower on food, the queen will instinctively take her workers to find where larger, more ready fields are more harvesting.

Christoph@thebakersfieldinterest.com

      In areas of perfect climate and plentiful food source like South America, AHB have been found to saturate a square mile with as many as 20 or more colonies at one time.  Another reason for the queen to swarm is that even while her workers are building a small nest, it is being outgrown by the rate of production and workers hatching from their comb nests overflowing the colony when the nest gets too crowded for the queen, she simply stops laying eggs and takes flight.   This is part of the reason why AHB will swarm numerous times during their life cycle.   The EHB queens will swarm possibly twice at the most in their life cycle, unless they have aggressive tenancies.

      As aggressive as the AHB nature is, so is their foraging capability.  While the EHB will begin collecting and foraging flowers in the later morning, the AHB will leave the nest much earlier in the morning and have been observed returning to the hive as late as 3:30 am by the light of the moon less then half full.   EHB will come back to the hive by dusk.

      Physically, there is no visual way to distinguish between the EHB and the AHB.   They both have the same markings.   The AHB are approximately 10% smaller then the EHB, and their DNA genes are similar.   The actual difference is only found and researched by qualified entomologists.

      There appears to be no major threat to humans on a regular basis from the AHB, however this is not to say that an active nest or large grouping of any bee is to be ignored.   When encountering a large field or area where bees of any kind are working and flying around radically, there may be a chance of attack.   Back up 50 feet, take a 90 degree angle and escape route, and calmly make a full circle around any suspected aggressive nest or swarming.

Researched and studied by:

Christoph Carter