Thoughts on Africanized Honeybees
by Calvin Robinson

European honeybees in the United States, the most common variety, are vanishing at an alarming rate. Some estimates show that we have lost at least half the nation's honeybees in the last 10 years. We have lost nearly 100 percent of the feral (wild) bees, excluding the occasional recent swarms that have taken up

residence in trees or other non-managed locations.

The reasons the bees are dying off are complex and not completely understood. One thing that is understood is that without some change, we may no longer have honeybees in the United States by the year 2035. At the very least we will not have the European honeybee, which is the backbone of our bee culture. We urgently need detailed and extensive research to understand what is killing the honeybees so we may be able to stop the annihilation.

Believe it or not the Africanized honeybee, improperly called the "killer bee" by ignorant or misinformed individuals, could someday be the salvation of our beekeeping industry. These bees do not usually physically attack the European honeybees. They do, however, out-compete and replace them due to their specific mating habits; Africanized drones have an advantage over the European drones when it comes to mating with a queen.

The African bee has been portrayed as a monster for years because that sells newspapers and movie tickets. It is true they have an aggressive nature that is turned "on" in the same gene that also controls the gentle nature of the European bees. In fact, the most common European bee in the United States, the Italian honeybee, is descended from Africa.

Not all bees in Africa are aggressive. The specific type of bees that was brought to South America for experimentation was aggressive and through mishandling they escaped into the wild. The rest of the story of the Africanized bee in America is history, so to speak.

All honeybees can be selected for aggressiveness or gentleness. Even the African bee has become more gentle as it has crossed with European bees during the slow migration northward. Very few people have died from venomous insect stings or bites in the United States since the arrival of the Africanized bee and even fewer have died from the African bee stings. Their venom is no more potent than any other bee; they simply attack in greater numbers when the alarm goes out to defend the hive.

Africanized honey bees have been in the South Western United

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