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What
are Africanized Honey Bees (AHBs)?
Video clips courtesy of the Arizona Department of Agriculture. Honey bees are not native to the Americas, but were brought to the Americas by European settlers during the 1600s. This type of honey bee, which is the one that is now common in Utah, is the European Honey Bee. The Africanized Honey Bee was brought to Brazil and cross-bred with European Honey Bees so that they could better tolerate the hot tropical climate in South America. Several of these Africanized colonies escaped, swarmed into the Brazilian jungle and interbred with local European colonies. Over the past 40 years, these colonies have been spreading northward, arriving in the United States in 1990. Because Africanized Honey Bees defend their colonies more aggressively than do European Honey Bees they could be called bees with attitude. Africanized Honey Bees do not just swarm out of the sky and attack people like some 'B' movie, but they are far more aggressive in the way they defend their colonies and will defend a larger area than European Honey Bees. They have been known to seriously sting or kill pets, livestock, and humans, and this behavior has earned them the nickname "killer bees". The pictures below are typical of what they look like when swarming on a tree limb.
They were introduced into Brazil in 1956, and have slowly spread northward since then. They have been in the United States since 1990, when they were detected in Hidalgo, Texas. They are now found in parts of California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas, and have been found as close to Utah as Mesquite, Nevada.
The Africanized Honey Bee is not as fussy about where it nests as the European Honey Bee, but they do like to nest near a source of water. Some of the places they have been known to nest include:
Some beekeepers "paint" (mark with a dot of paint) the European queens in their hives and check yearly to make sure the hive hasn't been taken over by Africanized honeybees. Others re-queen the hives yearly to make sure they have docile European honeybees. In addition, other training and prevention programs have been and are being put into effect. It is likely that wild colonies of European Honey Bees will eventually become Africanized in areas where the AHB is known to be present.
What Should I Know About AHBs?
Africanized Honey Bees will pursue people or animals as far as one-quarter mile, and will remain agitated for up to eight hours after they are disturbed. When disturbed, many more AHBs will leave the nest to attack, and they will attack anything they see as a threat, not just the cause of the disturbance.
Around the home, the best way to avoid an encounter with AHBs is to be sure your house and yard provide as few attractive nesting sites as possible. Periodically inspect your property for possible nesting sites. Holes larger than 1/8" on the outside of houses or outbuildings should be plugged with steel wool and caulked shut. Vent screens should be checked and repaired if necessary. In the yard, keep trees and shrubs trimmed, and dispose of old tires, boxes, or trash piles that AHBs may see as attractive nesting sites. If you see a large number of bees in a given area, see bees swarming, or hear loud buzzing coming from an enclosed area, DO NOT approach the bees, or attempt to destroy the colony yourself! Contact a pest control company or the State Agriculture Department for assistance. Be careful when camping or hiking to avoid any area that looks as if it could harbor bees, and to keep dogs under control - if they disturb bees, you may both be attacked. Never disturb or tease bees for any reason!
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State Agriculture Departments in the U.S. have been tracking and studying
them for years. The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food has been setting
traps for the past 5 years as an "early warning line". So far none have
been discovered in Utah, although they have been found within 30 miles
of the Utah border, in Mesquite, Nevada. 
