Tag Archives: Africanized honey bee
Kids, bee careful out there
Entomologists often walk a fine line between sounding alarmist and underplaying the importance of pest problems. Africanized honey bees and children are a good example. The potential seriousness of living with these bees was underscored yesterday when a gym class of middle schoolers disturbed a bee hive in a water controller box on a campus soccer field. According to news accounts, 20 students were stung, and several were taken to the hospital. Presumably the bees in this case were Africanized. Coincidentally this month, BBC News magazine interviewed Texas A&M entomologist,… Read More →
What to do if you’re attacked by bees?
While honey bees are highly beneficial to man, they can also be dangerous. If you don’t believe this, consider two Texas incidents this summer. In June, a Waco area man was killed by honey bees while working on his tractor. This past weekend a couple was severely stung and two of their miniature horses were killed following a bee attack at their Tarrant county home. Both incidents illustrate how serious honey bee infestations can be. It’s not that bees are mean, in a human sense. But they do take exception… Read More →
Honey Bee ID Lab Closed
Since 1990, Texas A&M University’s Honey Bee Identification Lab has provided identification and characterization of honey bees. As of the end of May, the Honey Bee ID lab is closed. According to Paul Jackson, with the Apiary Inspection Service, budget cuts left their department no choice but to end the program. Long-time employee Lisa Bradley was cut as a result. The laboratory provided analysis of honey bee genetics, and for many years had been the authority that documented the incidence and spread of Africanized honey bees spreading… Read More →