# Wharever Happened to the Killer Bees? **URL:** \ **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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/41 "2011-12-29T08:43:40Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Isn’t there–or hasn’t there recently been–a bee shortage? You’re probably thinking of [colony collapse disorder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/42 "2011-12-30T01:27:38Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > 95-year-old badass in L.A. [stung](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/95-year-old-man-attacked-swarm-bees-stung-400-times-police-article-1.946887) 400 times by African bees, walks away. And the cop who was assigned the case must have been a student of the Muhammad Ali school of speech: > [@Sgt. Phil Keenan](#): > > “Most men would have died, but he’s taking it in stride.” ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/43 "2012-02-24T22:51:58Z")
So, do these African Bees produce honey? Can you buy it? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/44 "2012-02-24T23:16:25Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > So, do these African Bees produce honey? Can you buy it? Apparently … [http://www.beefolks.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=27&cat=Killer+Bee+Honey&gclid=CKjDzPbet64CFUgBQAod4DzbnQ](http://www.beefolks.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=27&cat=Killer+Bee+Honey&gclid=CKjDzPbet64CFUgBQAod4DzbnQ) ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/45 "2012-02-24T23:47:01Z")
I caught some special on one of the cable channels that seemed more factual and less sensational on the Killer Bees. What I got from it was this: - The bees are physically the same as your run of the mill honey bee. If they sting they die. - The difference is in their temperment, and as previously mentioned, how they defend their hive (en masse), which is different from your regular honey bee. - Their temperment is evolutionary - back in Africa they had to contend with the honey badger, so developed this “overwhelming the enemy” strategy. - A brazilian scientist brought them to the new world in the 50s to try and develop a super-honey-producing bee. He created screens on the hives that prevented the queens from escaping but allowed the workers to pass, but one of the mopes hired to watch the hives did not know what they were for and removed the screens. Et voila - a legend is born. - They still do the job of pollinating the regular bees do, but are harder for beekeepers to handle and manage. - They can and do pose a real danger, but evidently were hyped as the catastrophe du jour in the day. - Interestingly, the Africanized queens hatch in 19 days, while the euro queens hatch in 20 days, and are then killed by the African queen. That is how they take over hives. I guess one strategy more scientists are now trying is to see if they can get the euro queens to hatch sooner to mitigate the problem. Helpy Helperton at your service. ---
**Author:** ![spankthecrumpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@spankthecrumpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spankthecrumpet)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/46 "2012-02-25T00:01:15Z")
> [@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 I agree with you > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > or climate change. Er, unfortunately, here we part ways. But I understand how you feel, and the green movement, or media, or someone anyway has to take some blame. Too many ridiculous scares before. Eventually, geoengineering is going to be the way that climate change will be dealt with methinks. Either that, or just adapting. But for either of those solutions to work, certain groupings have to accept the science. It will happen eventually. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/47 "2012-02-25T02:06:50Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Like every environmental issue it was ridiculously over-hyped. Clearly you are just a mouthpiece for our new insectoid overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/48 "2012-02-25T02:13:34Z")
Everything **Hail Ants** says is 100% correct. Especially the part about being over hyped. Nothing to see here folks, move along, but no sharp or quick movements. Hail bees! ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/49 "2012-02-25T02:49:35Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Everything **Hail Ants** says is 100% correct. Especially the part about being over hyped. Nothing to see here folks, move along, but no sharp or quick movements. > > Hail bees! And clearly _you_ are a hostage! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/50 "2012-02-25T03:04:16Z")
What were you expecting? The Sting? ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729/51 "2012-02-25T08:17:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I can’t put my finger on a cite right this minute, but speaking as a former beekeeper, I understood that as the African bees made their way into the North American Continent, they hybridized with other strains and their aggressive qualities were diminished. By the time they arrived in Texas, they weren’t the serious threat they were in Brazil, and they had acquired some useful characteristics in exchange. I work with a PhD apiarist, and this actually came up in conversation yesterday or the day before! He said that in Brazil, they have completely displaced unhybridized European honey bees, but have since been bred for docility by beekeepers to such an extent that they are no longer a problem. He said he asked one Brazilian beekeeper who would lift frames out of his hives without any care or caution about whether it was wise to treat Africanized bees that way and was told “Oh, they came through a long time ago, but they’re not here anymore.” When his bees were tested, though, their DNA was almost completely African! My friend said that this didn’t surprise him because he’d encountered docile Africanized bees in the States. When he left accademia, he started a pest control company in Arizona and was called to remove feral bee colonies all the time. Each time, he had to have the bees’ DNA tested, and was required to destroy any colonies showing DNA markers for Africanized bees. More than once, he encountered colonies that were completely docile and unbothersome and that he assumed were pure European honeybees, but when he got the test results back, they were Africanized. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wharever-happened-to-the-killer-bees/606729.md?page=2)