Weedguru_RyaNayR wrote:cutthecashflow wrote:As for the bees, killer is the nickname given to them. The Africanized bee is more aggressive than it's calmer counterpart. Technically we are not even supposed to have "killer" bees, but when we move the hives to Texas or California in the winter sometimes an Africanized group of bees comes up from South central Mexico, Central America, or South America and end up killing all of the orignial bees in the hive and taking it over for their own. Nasty little buggers!
So are they or are they not the same? I always thought Africanized Honey Bees were Killer Bees.
They are the same, African bees are by far the most aggressive, followed by Italian bees. Other traditional European bees (besides Italian) are much calmer than the other two. Cross breeding can occur and has happened in the past, especially in South America. This is where the African bee was set loose by mistake and eventually the migration started further and further north.
jcube69 wrote:WeedGuru_Flow wrote:Sad to hear you're gonna be going CTCF, but that is life and I wish you the very best in your endeavors. As allways : You'll be back
yea me 2 now its even more lonly in the vast void known as north dakota
Thanks Flow and yes I will be back, I will probably just sink into another three to six month abscence, as in the past. Just think where my post count would be if I could stick around all the time..... As far as Nodak, no worries jcube I really do like this place and will be back on occasion to visit family and friends.
jcube69 wrote:Weedguru Higher wrote:^ Just think..one day CTCF might become a world renowned doctor...
so that means free green cards for all of us? XD (when its like legalized i mean...)
If I'm in a state that has legalized it for medical purposes and you are a resident I'm sure I can find something wrong with you to warrant a green card, say trouble sleeping or perhaps you have these constant and persisting headaches....I'm sure we can figure something out!
AbbyRoad wrote:how are the bees even africanized to begin with?
my spell check did the same thing
Your fears of killer bees may be more real than originally thought, in 1994 there were virtually no colonies of Africanized bees in the United States, by 2004 however the population had gone as far north as Colorado. There are also a high number of beekeepers who have Africanized hives throughout California and Texas who come north in the summer time to North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba, Montana, and Saskatchewan to continue the bee harves in cooler conditions than are prevalent in the southern states during the hot summer.
If the "killer" bee population continues to increase and beekeepers continue to work north in the summer, there is a definite possibility that Africanized bees could become a regular part of our ecosystem. However the name Africanized often comes attached with a negative stigma. Sure the bees are more aggressive, but they don't go out and look for blood per se. More or less if agitated they will swarm and attack you, but in order to agitate them you have to be a potential threat to their hive and their honey.
Stay away from the hive and you stay away from an onslaught by the bees. An occasional sting may happen, everyone gets stung from time to time, but your in no eminent danger from a massive overkill on the bees part unless you are highly allergic to the venom, whereupon you could asphyxiate and die.
It comes down to morphology and genetics, here is a snippet from wikipedia if you want more information I can find other, more relevant sources (when citing sources wikipedia has been tradiotionall frowned upon, that trend is changing little by little however as it (wiki) is beginning to produce more reliable and valid results.
Taken from wiki:
There are two lineages of African bees in the Americas. The first are actual matrilinial descendants of the original escaped queens (carrying African mitochondrial DNA, but partially European nuclear DNA). These are in the vast majority. Secondly, a much smaller number have become African through hybridization (thus carrying European mitochondrial DNA, and partially African nuclear DNA). This is supported by DNA analyses performed on the bees as they spread northwards. Those in the "vanguard" were over 90% African mitochondrial DNA, indicating an unbroken matriline (Smith et al., 1989)—but after several years of interbreeding with local European strains, as in Brazil, the overall representation of African mitochondrial DNA drops to some degree. However, these latter hybrid lines (with European mtDNA) do not appear to propagate themselves well or persist.[8]. In the United States a total of 12 haplotypes of "A" African lineage honey bees have been found using DNA sequencing of a mitochondrial DNA COI-COII marker. [9].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee
I went on way too long here, I'm going to go drink some beer have a good day WG.
