Killer bees - part African, part European.

There seem to be a lot of bees around at the moment which made me think about the African 'Killer' bees.  These killer bees are a cross between the African honey bee and various European honey bees, mostly from Italy.  Killer bees are descended from 26 Tanzanian bees which were accidentally released in Brazil and these mated with European bees that had been brought over from Europe in order to provide productive hives.  Unfortunately the resulting cross were bees which swarmed more frequently, were more aggressive when there was a perceived threat, had a larger proportion of guard bees in the hive, deployed a greater number in the defence of the hive and had a larger alarm zone around the hive, thus making these bees more of a threat to humans and surrounding wildlife.  These bees had a major impact in southern USA.

Back in Africa it has been seen that African honey bees can be more protective of their hives and when disturbed more guard bees will attack that threat.  But these guys are not the same killer bees as in the States.
Their sting is not more venomous, it just means that you will probably be stung more often and therefore feel worse after the incident - believe me, I know.  I have been chased by a swarm that had been accidentally disturbed and ended up with numerous stings all over my back.  Despite all this, bees do tend to keep themselves to themselves, I was just rather unlucky.

The most incredible thing that I have seen are some local Zulus smoking out a wild hive of bees.  After a lot of preparation and smoke, my eyes were steaming by this point, one (brave) guy inserted his arms into the depth of the tree trunk to emerge with his arm covered in sleepy bees and holding a dripping honey comb.  He had not been stung once.  The knowledge that these guys have is incredible, living in harmony with the wildlife, and the honey was as sweet nectar!