Africanized Honey Bee

Welcome to the next installment of Shit That Can Kill You Friday's!

Today we have the Africanized Honey Bee, A.K.A. the killer bee.

They were first brought to Brazil from Africa by some moron biologist who thought they would help increase honey production. Why did he think they would help increase honey production? BECAUSE HE BREAD THEM. This idiot created a monster species and then probably said "what could possibly go wrong?". They are better, stronger, and faster than the average bee (like the million dollar man, but, you know, a bee). And as they toiled making honey they realized that honey production would never fulfill their lust for murder! (probably). To be fair, they probably did help with honey production... but they also escaped! As Warwick Kerr, the foolish biologist in question, should have known, it is really hard to keep things that can fly to stay in one place. Within 35 years they reached Texas, leaving a trail of mutilated corpses in their wake.

What makes these bees so deadly is their aggressive defensive instinct. They set up a larger defensive perimeter around the hive than other species of bee and also use more guard bees who are just itching to ruin your day. When they attack, they swarm. Africanized bees have been known to chase their victims for miles.. MILES! Got that? There is no escaping these little monsters.

Their venom causes inflammation, dizziness, headaches, weakness, edema, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, respiratory distress and renal failure. It also causes an increased heart rate, as if that doesn't just happen when your attacked by bees, which spreads the venom around your body even more rapidly. Remember, these bees swarm, so multiply these effects by 1000. Guaranteed bad day, possible chance of death.

These bees are responsible for the deaths of a few people every year, but that's not counting the number of people hospitalized, blinded, or even crippled by them (I don't know if those last two have ever happened). Other things on their kill list? Horses! An animal that is way bigger than a human but just as easily stung to death. Yikes.

Moral of the story, don't create blood thirsty killers in a lab thinking they will be satisfied with agriculture. Killers kill, simple as that.

Stay safe out there, Scott.

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Charles R Mercer

Amateur Zoologist