Africanized, Sometimes Called "Killer Bees"

   In the movie The Swarm, great clouds of angry bees attack entire cities and sting hundreds of people to death. This is pure fiction. It could never happen. But folklore like this has arisen within the last ten years regarding the Africanized sometimes called "Killer Bee". The ancestors of the Africanized bee live throughout Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. African bees were accidentally introduced into the wild in South and North America during 1956. Brazilian scientists were attempting to create a new hybrid bee in the hopes of creating improved honey production. The Africanized bee escaped and began to dominate honey bee.

     The new hybrid, called an Africanized Bee, took many years established colonies throughout South and Central America. The bee is aggressive, easily agitated, and generally a bee with a bad attitude. The first Africanized bee was found in the United States in October 1990, in a southern area of Texas. The Africanized bee is expected to spread across the southern part of the country, where the winters aren't so harsh. Some scientists and entomologists believe that the Africanized bees will be able to adapt to colder weather and roam as far north as Montana. If this projection is true, it could become a big problem for a number fo reasons in the United States.