Killer bees. A terrible legacy

Remember, as a child, many of us watched movies about terrible sharks, giant squids, ants and cannibal bees? If everything is clear with sharks and squids, how can small flying creatures kill a person, because their poison can cause only an allergy? Not everything is as simple as it may seem at first glance. Killer bees really exist! About them and talk.

Myth or reality?

This is not an invention, much less a myth. Unfortunately, these especially dangerous insects do exist and have already managed to carry out many human lives. From the point of view of entomological classification, they represent a non-axonomic group of honey bees. Their Latin name is Apis mellifera, which, in Russian, sounds like an "Africanized bee".

But what are these strange insects? Where did the killer bees come from? Strictly speaking, they did not appear out of nowhere. They were induced artificially during the experiment. True, it happened spontaneously. Bees, which have been dubbed by the people as murderers, are nothing but a hybrid of African bees with any other animals living in Europe.

African bee killers. How it was?

In 1956, in Brazil, during a special experiment and the oversight of some individuals, bees, threatening human life, were inadvertently taken out. Once the Brazilian scientist-entomologist and geneticist Warwick Kerr brought with him from the next African expedition of local bees. The scientist for some time carefully studied his "wards", finding out their strengths - excellent fertility and good physical strength.

This led Kerr to a principled decision to create by crossing a certain subspecies of African bees, which could easily take root in a hot South American climate. But here, as in the horror film, there was a force majeure. It is not known by whose error the received uteri of the newly bred hybrid were in 1957 self-released by the geneticist at will. At large, the uterus freely interbred with the drones of ordinary bees, producing a terrible legacy. And there were bee-killers.

"Wrong" bees

These creatures differ from all their relatives in large sizes and violent aggressiveness. The physical strength inherited from African bees has made these insects real fighters in the fight against inclement conditions of the environment: their amazing vitality and resistance to certain external factors are simply amazing! In this case, the incubation period for them is one day shorter than that of ordinary bees. This gives them a significant advantage in reproduction.

Moreover, African bees produce honey twice as much as their normal counterparts. They begin to collect it before all other insects, and finish - later. These creatures are much more industrious than their relatives. And they pollinate plants an order of magnitude better than other types of bees. Nevertheless, in the language of the famous Winnie-the-Pooh, bee-killers are "wrong" bees. Why? Yes, because they kill people!

Spread

Over time, these dangerous creatures spread in the South American forests, and then in the countryside, and even in cities. Currently, African bees settled throughout Brazil, displacing their relatives from there and unconditionally occupying the whole of South America. Scientists closely monitor their movement. It is noted that now these creatures are steadily settling to the north at a speed of about 270 kilometers per year.

Ruthless Killers

Already 10 years after the failed experiment, the first case of an attack of a whole swarm of Africanized bees on houses in the Rio de Janeiro Bay was recorded. Then the killer bees killed more than 150 people and several hundred animals. All attempts by rescuers to use flamethrowers against them proved to be futile. Statistics - a harsh thing. According to her, since 1969 in Brazil from the bites of these flying mutants killed more than 200 people, and several thousand - seriously affected.

What can we say about domestic animals killed at the hands of these insects: they are generally counted in the thousands. Entomologists warn that africanized bees without hesitation attack any living creature that appeared within a radius of 5 meters from their hive. Often they pursue their victims for 500-700 meters. Be very careful! We wish you never to know by your experience who the bees are murderers!