There was definitely a brief media frenzy when I were a lad, anyay.

Anyway, it turns out they're migrating slower than people originally expected.

quote:

---

The dreaded Africanized honey bee—better known as the "killer bee"—may be buzzing slightly northward. Entomologists believe that an Africanized swarm was responsible for an attack in Tipton, Okla., earlier this month. Africanized bees were first discovered in Texas in 1990, setting off panicked reports that they'd be ubiquitous throughout much of the United States in a matter of years. But they've only made it to six Southwestern states so far. Why are the killer bees moving so slowly?

No one's entirely sure, but the prevailing theories include the bees' inability to cope with several facts of life in the Lower 48: wintry conditions; competition from European honey bees; the ravages of parasitic mites and predatory fire ants; and effective quarantine programs. Originally, entomologists estimated the bees' migratory speed at between 200 and 300 miles per year. They based that estimate on how quickly the bees tore through South and Central America, after African bees were first brought to Brazil in 1956. The bees were imported because European honey bees, which are common in the United States, were not well-suited to Brazil's more tropical climate; the Brazilian government wanted to create a European-African hybrid that could produce more honey. Many of the African bees escaped the following year and quickly blazed a path south to Argentina and north to Central America and Mexico.

But ever since the Africanized honey bees first hit Texas, the bees' northward march has slowed to a crawl. Cold winters may have something to do with the deceleration, as Africanized bees do not store adequate food supplies for the harsh months. Some entomologists have noted that the bees have yet to migrate beyond the 34th parallel south in Argentina and so are unlikely to go much beyond 34 degrees north in the United States. At present, a few killer bee colonies have been found in southern Nevada, which is slightly north of the 34th parallel, as is Tipton (though just barely). It's worth noting that Africanized honey bees have been spotted high up in the Andes, so it's possible that they're hardier than researchers imagine.

---

Edit:

Sometimes lost in such discussions is the fact that North American honey bees are, like the Africanized hybrids, an introduced species (originally from Europe) which displaced bees originally present here.

[ 26 August 2004: Message edited by: 'lance ]

[ 26 August 2004: Message edited by: Mike Keenan ]

That, or something close to it, is the opening line of an early story by Italo Calvino. I remember Gore Vidal raving over its brilliance as an opening line, especially as the rest of the para following says nothing further about the ants ...

But I got stung by wasps a few times, and it didn't prove all that traumatic. Luckily I was never stung by a hornet.

I wrote to babble about it because I had a reaction, a sustained one. That thread is around somewhere, probably under Body and Soul. I've been stung a couple of times before and never reacted, so that one worried me. Not that I've done anything about it.

I was wearing a full-length dress at the time, and sitting in a garden, with my skirt forming a tent over the ground. Older ladies present told me that in a long dress, I should hike the skirt up a bit as I sit so that a bee doesn't feel trapped should he accidentally fly in under the skirt. When I say "older ladies," you can imagine how old they would have to be.

One summer when I was around ten or 12, I was biking down a large hill near our place, wearing only shorts and sneakers, when I suddenly realized there was a bee (or wasp)... in my shorts.

Hoo-boy. Can you say "sudden moment of panic"?

Luckily I didn't crash the bike, but brought it to a more-or-less controlled stop. Luckily the stinging critter didn't panic either, but flew away as soon as I pulled the waistband away from my stomach.

quote:

---

When I was seventeen, it was a very good year.

---

Lucky you.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Briguy:
When I was seventeen, it was a very good year. Except for one moment. I was a passenger on a friend's sport motorcycle, which is harrowing enough on it's own. "Lean just a smidge when I corner, or we'll crash and die. Let's go!" Anyway, we were scooting down the road at a frightening pace, when a bee flew into his helmet (he had his visor up). We swerved wildly twice before he regained composure and pulled off to the side. No sting, no fiery crash, no premature death, but one hell of a lot of adrenaline.

---

My dad had a collision with a yellowjacket while riding his motorcycle. It got into his shirt and stung him, though luckily he remained in control of the bike.

quote:

---

Isn't there an Edward Lear poem in here?

There was an old man of St. Bees
Who was horribly stung by a wasp
When they said, “does it hurt?”
He replied, “no, it doesn’t –
It’s a good job it wasn’t a hornet”

---

Aaargh, the gaps in my education. I confused Edward Lear with Edward Bond, who wrote Lear, and thought: nonsense poetry too? Funny old world.

quote:

---

Why are the killer bees moving so slowly?
No one's entirely sure, but the prevailing theories include the bees' inability to cope with several facts of life in the Lower 48: wintry conditions...

---

Now I've heard everything: saved by our harsh climate? Let's remember this in January when our breath is freezing in our lungs.

I have had one bee sting in my life, as well as the experience of that film, or one like it. It, like "Piranha!" (also in 1978 - was that the year that nature attacked?) and other films of the our-natural-world-is-something-to-be-feared-and-therefore-must-be destroyed genre were formative in my early years, when first I began to incorporate the media's images as a form of reality.

[ 30 August 2004: Message edited by: steffie ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 'lance:

Lucky you.

Somewhere there must be an MP3 of William Shatner's spoken-word version of that song.

---

There is, and you don't want to hear it.

I can take it.

I've heard Shatner's version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" -- and, even worse ("what?" I hear you sputter, "worse than that?!" Yes, worse than that), his version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." As the song ends he seems to be going into some kind of drug-induced panic, shouting more and more frantically, "Mr. Tambourine Man! Mr. Tambourine Man!!"

< /toughness >

quote:

---

Now I've heard everything: saved by our harsh climate? Let's remember this in January when our breath is freezing in our lungs.

---

Unfortunately missing from that Slate article was any discussion of what impact the bees have had in South and Central America. Have that many people actually been attacked by these bees? I'll see if I can't find out.

[ 30 August 2004: Message edited by: 'lance ]