‘Killer bees’ are back. Here’s what you should know
- The “killer bee” has been spotted again in the Southeast US, sparking concerns.
- The bee was originally created in Brazil to improve honeybee health and was accidentally released in the 1950s.
- Researchers are cautioning that the killer bee may not be as scary as it sounds, despite its defensive nature.
- The bee’s spread across the South in the mid-1980s caused mass panic, but its impact is being reevaluated by experts like Lewis Bartlett.
- Bartlett and other researchers are reminding the public that the killer bee is not a significant threat to human safety, despite its reputation.
Yes, killer bees are back. But you shouldn’t panic, says Lewis Bartlett.
First spotted in the US in the mid-1980s, the so-called “killer bee” created mass panic as it spread across the South. But was that fear justified?
Originally crossbred to improve honeybee health in Brazil, the bee instead became incredibly defensive and was accidentally released in the 1950s.
But as new sightings of the bee in the Southeast increase, researchers like Bartlett, an assistant professor in the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, are reminding the public that the killer bee may not be as scary as it sounds:
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