{"id":1980,"date":"2025-10-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/?p=1980"},"modified":"2025-09-29T11:33:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T15:33:22","slug":"killer-bees-are-back-but-dont-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/killer-bees-are-back-but-dont-panic\/","title":{"rendered":"Killer bees are back, but don\u2019t panic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
Hybrid or Africanized honey bees quickly and aggressively defend their colony. Call on a professional to remove unusually aggressive bees. Photo by Paolo Tognoni on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Savannah Peat, University of Georgia Media Relations Specialist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published in UGA Today, September 5, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally crossbred to improve honeybee health in Brazil, Africanized honeybees instead became incredibly defensive. They were accidentally released in the 1950s, and the so-called \u201ckiller bees\u201d were spotted in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, creating panic across the southern states. There have been new sightings of the bees in the Southeast, but are they really as scary as they sound? In an interview with researcher Lewis Bartlett, an assistant professor in the University of Georgia\u2019s Odum School of Ecology and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UGA Today Media Relations Specialist Savannah Peat finds out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are they called killer bees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Africanized or killer bee, what I call a hybrid bee, can be dangerous once bothered because it combines the worst traits of both European bees and African bees. You get a creature that is quick to defend its nests and very quick to sting. They\u2019re stronger and more resilient than most of the bees we keep, which is why they\u2019ve spread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth remembering that they are similar to normal honeybees. They\u2019re just a different breed. It\u2019s like discussing a bulldog compared to a shih tzu \u2013 they\u2019re both the same species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real issue is more about whether the two species are intermingling and breeding. Those genetics that underpin the hybrid bee\u2019s defensive and more dangerous behaviors can creep into our own honeybee stock, and that\u2019s really when intervention needs to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Wild honey bees, whether European or hybrid, will establish colonies in tree hollows or hollow spaces in buildings. Photo by David Zimmerman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What do Africanized bees look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at them, you can\u2019t tell any meaningful difference between the typical honeybee colonies that beekeepers keep here in Georgia and the hybrid bee. The only way to truly tell if a bee is a hybrid it to genetically test it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you can observe, however, with a hybrid colony is that very rapid defensive behavior. When the colony is approached, there\u2019ll be many hundreds or thousands of bees that quickly emerge to defend it. That\u2019s usually a surefire sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where can you find killer bees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
As they search for a new home, honey bee swarms may take a rest break on tree branches. Photo by Leonie Clough on Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These hybrid bees are a warm weather bee, so they tend to be much more prevalent in the geographic South. We suspect the largest number of hybrid bees are in Florida and especially in South Florida. But they\u2019re also common in West Texas, the Southwest and Southern California. They do occasionally make it into more northerly regions, but the cold weather tends to keep them at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any region across the South might encounter these bees. Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Carolinas are doing a pretty good job of snuffing out these hybrid bees once they appear. Feral hybrid bees, which are bees that have escaped or otherwise fled from being managed by people, typically will live in hollows \u2013 what we call cavity nesting. They don\u2019t want to live underground. They want to live above ground in some sheltered environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their natural habitat can be tree hollows or crevices in cliffs or the equivalent in ore urban and suburban environments. That\u2019s often inside people\u2019s walls or homes, particularly if there\u2019s very little insulation or otherwise convenient gaps between floors and walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What risk do these bees pose?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These bees create new colonies more frequently than our standard managed European bees, so they reproduce a little bit more quickly and possibly with those genetics that underpin their more dangerous behaviors. Those genetics can creep into our own honeybee stock to the point where they are so ubiquitous that it is impractical to get rid of those undesirable behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, we\u2019d have to move toward beekeeping in a different fashion, and people would have to be much more wary of bee colonies. It\u2019s actually quite hard to become allergic to bee stings, but if someone is already at risk from anaphylaxis from bee stings, the colony poses a significant threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should you do if you come across Africanized bees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
In an interview with UGA Media Relations Specialist Savannah Peat, UGA Assistant Professor Lewis Bartlett tells us what we need to know about Africanized or \u201ckiller bees.\u201d Contributed photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you accidentally disturb a nest or colony that you weren\u2019t aware of, don\u2019t panic too much, and don\u2019t try to take care of it on your own. Back off as quickly as possible and call your local UGA Cooperative Extension office, Georgia Department of Agriculture, or local beekeeping club to see if there\u2019s anyone who can come out and assess those bees and make a decision as to whether they seem to show that aggression. There\u2019s a specific training and certification process for beekeepers who are specifically qualified in removing bees from structures. They can do that safely, effectively, and with minimal damage to property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally crossbred to improve honeybee health in Brazil, Africanized honeybees instead became incredibly defensive. They were accidentally released in the 1950s, and the so-called \u201ckiller bees\u201d were spotted in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, creating panic across the southern states. There have been new sightings of the bees in the Southeast, but are they really as scary as they sound? In an interview with researcher Lewis Bartlett, an assistant professor in the University of Georgia\u2019s Odum School of Ecology and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UGA Today Media Relations Specialist Savannah Peat finds out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":192,"featured_media":1988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[409,408],"class_list":["post-1980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anr","tag-africanized-bees","tag-killer-bees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/192"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1980"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1994,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1980\/revisions\/1994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/forsyth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}