# Wharever Happened to the Killer Bees?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 19, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729 "2011-12-19T11:34:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/1 "2011-12-19T11:34:19Z")
In the 70s, we were repeatedly warned that killer bees from south of the border were inexorably on their way to the US. Did they ever arrive?
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/2 "2011-12-19T11:50:06Z")
Yes, the [Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee) on them even has an [animated graphic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Killerbees_ani.gif) of their spread.
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### Author:  [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/3 "2011-12-19T12:10:51Z")
Like every environmental issue it was ridiculously over-hyped. See the next ice age or acid rain or the ozone hole or the Jupiter effect or the Kuwaiti oil fires or climate change. The amount of coverage they get isn’t based on their true threat value, but on how sensational they can sound.
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/4 "2011-12-19T12:11:01Z")
The Africanized “killer” bees are real, and they’ve been here in Texas for a long time.
If you haven’t heard much about them in decades, that’s NOT because they don’t exist or because they didn’t make it to the USA. It’s because they turned out to be a manageable nuisance, rather than a deadly catastrophe.
The bees ARE much more aggressive than European honeybees, and once in a while, they DO kill someone or inflict serious injuries. But they aren’t vicious killers constantly in search of victims. They’re not bloodthirsty- it’s just that, when they DO attack, they attack en masse, which means you may get dozens of stings instead of one or two. ANd if you’re allergic to bee venom, that CAN make the difference between life and death.
They are real and they CAN be dangerous… they just aren’t the kind of monsters Hollywood and the National Enquirer may have led you to believe.
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### Author:  [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/5 "2011-12-19T12:13:05Z")
I bet our bees are still terrified 😃
Out of curiosity and my laziness to Google after being up all night, what effect, if any have the killer bees had on our American bees and the honey industry
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/6 "2011-12-19T12:26:31Z")
And this is why I enforcement of immigration laws. Undocumented bees arriving and forcing our American ™ bees out of their hives, collecting nectar for much less return, AND threatening our god-fearing American ™ allergy sufferers???
Why have none of the erstwhile Presidential candidates made any statements about this? Are they beholden to the East Coast honey barons? The West Coast pollination cabal? Why is no one asking these questions???
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### Author:  [@EarlyMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EarlyMan)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/7 "2011-12-19T12:44:55Z")
I thought they all ended up on Saturday Night Live. 😕 😉
EarlyMan
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### Author:  [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/8 "2011-12-19T13:01:41Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#):
>
> Like every environmental issue it was ridiculously over-hyped. See the next ice age or acid rain or the ozone hole or the Jupiter effect or the Kuwaiti oil fires or climate change. The amount of coverage they get isn’t based on their true threat value, but on how sensational they can sound.
If you really believe all those things belong on the same list your ignorance is staggering.
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/9 "2011-12-19T15:44:12Z")
Africanized killer bees are less productive, which is not desirable, and this might be more threatening to people than their aggressiveness.
[http://m.voices.yahoo.com/africanized-killer-bees-frankenstein-science-663124.html](http://m.voices.yahoo.com/africanized-killer-bees-frankenstein-science-663124.html)
> **[Killer Bees? They're No Joke in Texas (Published 1988)](https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/15/us/killer-bees-they-re-no-joke-in-texas.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm)**
.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/10 "2011-12-19T15:55:39Z")
I forget; how did the African bees end up in South America to begin with?
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/11 "2011-12-19T16:03:47Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> I forget; how did the African bees end up in South America to begin with?
They were carried there by African swallows.
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/12 "2011-12-19T16:06:46Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> I forget; how did the African bees end up in South America to begin with?
According to [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee), some Brazilian scientists were trying to create a hybrid species that would deal with tropical conditions better (advantage: African) but would also be less aggressive (advantage: European). Some of the purebred Africans escaped and interbred with other European (feral?) colonies, creating the strain we know today.
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### Author:  [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/13 "2011-12-19T16:33:26Z")
> [@astorian](#):
>
> The bees ARE much more aggressive than European honeybees, and once in a while, they DO kill someone or inflict serious injuries. But they aren’t vicious killers constantly in search of victims. They’re not bloodthirsty- it’s just that, when they DO attack, they attack en masse, which means you may get dozens of stings instead of one or two. ANd if you’re allergic to bee venom, that CAN make the difference between life and death.
Is also not the case that they don’t die after stinging someone/something, or at least can sting repeatedly before they do?
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### Author:  [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/14 "2011-12-19T16:47:16Z")
In the mid-80’s an Africanized Bee expert gave an informal talk at our university. What he said was that Africanized bees don’t “cluster” well. So they don’t survive cold winters well. A patch of warm winters or rampant global warming could make them a more serious threat for more of the US but … unless the Northern US acquires a climate like the movie _Soylent Green_, I don’t see them or any other African species as a serious future problem.
\*No disrespect to any Texans who were walking in a field and bumped the wrong hive. I know they are a problem there.
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### Author:  [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/15 "2011-12-19T16:53:07Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#):
>
> Is also not the case that they don’t die after stinging someone/something, or at least can sting repeatedly before they do?
No. That’s false. Unless I misread the layers of negatives in your sentence. 🙂 Most sources agree, they’re pretty typical bees. Just they respond in greater numbers to the attack signal from a worker, and they stay aggressive for longer, and from a greater distance from the hive.
There’s also cool anecdotes, like, submerging yourself in a body of water won’t make them leave you alone. They’re not hovering over the water waiting for you to surface. They’re just “stuck” in pissed off mode in response to the anger pheromone. Likewise, they’re so relentless, they’re more likely to penetrate a beekeepers gown. But that happens once and a while with ordinary bees, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/16 "2011-12-19T17:03:27Z")
They’re here, and they do occasionally attack.
> **[Killer bees attack, kill farm animals in Bisbee](https://www.kold.com/story/15466789/killer-bees-attack-kill-farm-animals-in-bisbee/)**
>
> Killer bees attacked several farm animals at an animal farm located off U.S. 80 in Bisbee, killing a 1,000 pound hog. KOLD News 13 has obtained exclusive footage of this bee attack, thanks to a local
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/17 "2011-12-19T17:23:30Z")
[The Killer Bees](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killer_Bees_%28professional_wrestling%29)
“Jumping” Jim Brunzell is working as a financial planner somewhere in Minnesota, I think.
B. Brian Blair was elected as a County Commissioner somewhere in Florida, but think he served one term before losing a re-election bid.
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/18 "2011-12-19T23:25:33Z")
I just remember that movie where they almost ate Angela Lansbury then somehow crashed a train.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/19 "2011-12-20T05:12:21Z")
[This guy](http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bizarre/content/man-found-dead-covered-bees-miami-home) was asking about killer bees too. I suggest you put a halt to your inquiries lest your fortune take a turn for the worse.
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### Author:  [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/20 "2011-12-20T10:41:59Z")
> [@](#):
>
> MIAMI — A man was found dead inside a Miami home swarmed with thousands of bees, but a cause of death has not yet been released.
> Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll told CBS 4 the unidentified man was standing on a chair Saturday when he fell. He had been trying to remove the bees from a bedroom.
> The man’s daughter found the body but was unable to get to her father because of the bees. Even fire rescue crews were concerned. A bee removal specialist was called in, but the man was already dead by the time rescue crews were able to get inside the room. It’s estimated that nearly 60,000 bees were in the room at the time.
> **The Medical Examiner Office will determine the cause of death**.
**Covered\_In\_Bees** , the cause of death in this case certainly is a mystery. My first thoughts were burst aortic aneurism, radiation poisoning or indiscriminate ingestion of fugu (puffer-fish) livers. But, considering this happened in South Florida, I’m now thinking the culprit may just involve indigenous fauna: alligator bite, python constriction…who knows, maybe even bee stings.
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