Florida faces a new threat, the Africanized honeybee. The number of colonies throughout the United States has risen to around three million colonies. The migration patterns are shifting north at the rate of 100-300 miles per year and soon the entire state of Florida will be saturated in Africanized honeybees. This is a problem that affects every resident of Florida.
Africanized honeybees are known as killer bees.
You may have hear
d of them before under the name of “killer bees” because the Africanized honeybee is ten times more aggressive than a normal European honeybee. As if that news is not bad enough, Africanized honeybees are more aggressive in hotter temperatures so the Florida summers keep these tyrants angry and ready to sting.
Africanized honeybees have been known to deploy over 1,000 individual bees in an effort to defend the nest against predators. The honeybees can follow targets for almost 450 yards making it nearly impossible to outrun or escape an attack. A European honeybee will only travel 50 yards in pursuit of you. On average there are 53 fatalities caused each year by Africanized honeybee attacks.
What do Africanized honeybees look like?
Unfortunately the difference between an Africanized honeybee and a European honeybee is so slight that it is nearly impossible to tell with an untrained eye. Only the expert eyes of an entomologist can distinguish the two types of bees from each other. The main difference between the two species is their level of aggression. You may not realize it is an Africanized honeybee until it is too late.
Call a pest control professional immediately.
You are no match for an Africanized honeybee and at the first sight of any possible sign of them, you must call a pest control company. Not reporting the issue to pest control results puts other people at risk for being stung. Africanized honeybees are more than another pest in Florida; they are endangering the lives of residents and proper safety precautions must be taken. If you are completely not sure that it is an Africanized honeybee, it is better to error on the side of caution. To be safe, call a pest control professional immediately.