Bikesplendor

My experiences: I accidentally dislodged a rock that tumbled down a hillside over or very close to a spot where bees were nesting. A lot of them poured out of a hole in the ground. They were agitated and seemed faster and more aggressive than the bees I was familiar with up north. They were looking for the cause of the disturbance, and seemed eager to attack whatever it was, and teach it a lesson. I was maybe twenty feet away or so. I ducked, slunk down and got out of there. Fortunately they did not identify me as the culprit and I did not get swarmed. Otherwise it could have turned into a very bad situation.

This is while touring and camping in the Sonoran desert. When I got back to camp, I checked out the local bee species online. I was not at first well informed at all about killer bees. As it turns out, all of the wild bees in the area are Africanized Honey Bees, also referred to as killer bees.

A close friend has allergic reactions and has been warned by doctors about anaphylactic shock, and the real danger of dying.

Many people die each year, so it can get serious. These bees are more aggressive and nastier than the bees I am more familiar with.

Another situation in which I encounter them is when I go to the last waterholes that are drying up weeks after a rain. There can be large numbers of bees visiting the last remaining little pool of water, or even after that when it is just moist dirt or sand. I wonder if they can be triggered in that situation. Sometimes I am getting some water to filter or cook with, and they make me a little nervous. If there are any bee experts out there, please let me know more.

Here's a video that has some interesting moments and information mixed in:

BigAura

Seriously...you gotta stop watching the guy provoke animals so they attack him. Most of these animals have no interest in attacking humans WITHOUT provocation.

In fact your takeaway should be--> look at the lengths he has to go through to get these staged attacks.

As stated in your other animal-paranoia-threads, the animals that are actually incentivized to attack humans are minute and attack stealthily. And the harm they cause are not the direct result of the attack but the incidental diseases they carry.

1. ticks (some infected species)
2. mosquitoes (some infected species)

Happy Feet

When I was younger I worked as a landscaper and in Alberta they have ground wasp nests. Just a hole in the ground. Nothing is better than running over one with a mower and then walking right in its wake. Sometimes I had little reaction to the stings and sometimes my ankles would swell like cantelopes. Probably the worst near miss was trimming a huge long hedge with a gas bar trimmer, just holding the trimmer and walking at a slow pace, and then re walking the hedge to see a 3 foot wide paper wasp nest mere inches from the depth I had trimmed. That could have been a bad day.

Another time I was on a self propelled mower in a cemetery when a huge cloud of migrating bees swarmed over my head. Sometimes a queen moves and the whole hive follows her. They darkened the sky like a cloud as they traveled over my head across the field and I just turned off the mower and sat there feeling completely helpless but they did not seem to care about me at all. Even worse was watching my partner on an industrial grade grass trimmer (weed eater) who didn't notice a thing because he had ear mufflers and a face shield on and was revving the gas trimmer full bore! I cringed a lot at the thought of the bees deciding to put an end to that.

indyfabz

And this one time at band camp....

KraneXL

Bees are the most beneficial insects on earth. Mankind could not exist as we do today without them. Leave them alone, and they'll leave you alone.

venturi95

Yes, but if you provoke them by just riding along they never listen to reason.

Leebo

Some people like to go outside and revel in nature. Using some common sense and respect for the wilds. Others are too afraid to leave the couch. Put down the u tooob.

Bikesplendor

Yet among nonhuman animals, the creatures that cause more American deaths than any other are bees and wasps. In a typical year, nearly 100 American deaths are caused by bee stings. In fact, this number probably represents an underestimate, since some bee sting deaths are erroneously attributed to heart attacks, sun stroke and other causes.

The impacts of bee stings can differ widely. Two weeks ago, a five-year-old girl attending a birthday party in my backyard was stung three times, leading to tears but no permanent damage. Last week, an acquaintance of mine from work, a man in his 50’s with a known allergy to bee stings, lost his life after being stung by a bee.

To the vast majority of people, a bee sting is not life-threatening. Experts say that the average adult can safely withstand more than 1,000 bee stings. Of course, fewer stings could prove dangerous to an infant or small child. What makes stings deadly is generally not the toxicity of bee venom itself but an allergy developed as a result of prior stings.

It is estimated that about two million Americans have allergies to insect stings. Signs of a severe allergic reaction include difficulty breathing, hives, swelling of the face, throat, or mouth, anxiety, rapid pulse, and a drop in blood pressure. Death can result in as little as 10 minutes. Individuals with severe allergies are often advised to carry injectable epinephrine (commonly called an EpiPen), to be administered immediately after a sting.

....

Though bees take the crown as America’s most lethal animal, they are not naturally aggressive creatures, and when they attack, they do so in defense against a perceived threat. The key to avoiding bee stings is to steer clear of hives and nests, operate motorized equipment such as lawnmowers with care and avoid swatting at them when they are in the vicinity.

The rest of the article can be found here:

https://theconversation.com/americas...l-animal-45989

79pmooney

I don't do well with bee stings. Stepped on a clover as a kid and I couldn't put on a shoe for days. But I am also not afraid of them and apparently am not threatening to them. As a kid I used to pat the bumblebees when they were deep in a flower. Helped a friend move his hive wearing just shorts and a tee, Gently batted honey bees out of the way on trails surrounded by flowers. I think they simply "get" who is a danger to them and who is not.

My most interesting encounter was with a snake. The wedding party I was in was climbing the trail of a Massachusetts hill. I was about 3rd. Husband to be, my brother, was next. As we passed a large table-like granite stone, I heard a shaking sound. Turned around in time to see a very healthy, well fed 4' rattler cross the trail at my feet. Apparently we'd disturbed his snooze and he was telling us "I'm outta here". (Thank you, Dad for teaching all of us siblings good rules of thumb around animals. A little further down the line were some who almost certainly would have panicked.)

When it comes to bees, I believe there is no need to consider them a huge danger. Just keep in mind they have their priorities, working for and feeding the hive and protecting the hive. They are quite used to the concept that there are other animals around, many of which wan the same food. I'll bet very few bears get stung - until they go for the treat: honey! - despite operating often in the same places. When I've bumped them with my hand. it's never been a big deal. They just fly on like nothing happened. Now, in the presence of my wife who was terrified of them, they got VERY excited. We never got stung, but I worried many times.

Oh, fun experience with bees, bicycle related. The mid-July Weekender of Cycle Oregon. Early afternoon. Willamette valley farm country, some of the richest soil on the planet. We'd started the day riding past stacks of hives bought in on trucks. Coming home we passed more but now the bees were in full work mode. So here was hundreds of riders riding upstream though a cloud of worker bees coming home heavily loaded. It was fascinating. The bees, confronted with this mass of riders with a 30 mph? closing speed, did a phenomenal job of swerving and missing us. Very few hits and I heard of no stings. Just hundreds, thousands of worker bees single focused on a mission. (And if they hit a rider; well that was a mission failure.)

Ben

robow

I hope your friend carries an EpiPen with him in the car, or if he bike tours, one in his bag. Was on a tour years ago when a fellow who was highly allergic to bee venom was stung but was able to right the ship since he had pre-planned for just such an emergency.

Cyclist0108

Hole in the ground? Yellow-jackets, not bees.

Yellow-jackets are extremely aggressive and nasty.

Cyclist0108

The temptation to inject epinephrin just before a big hill must be almost irresistable.

KraneXL

Bears love honey, but they're attacking the hive and pay a heavy price for that sweet nectar.Swarming vs protecting the hive. The natural habit is to swat at them which they see as an attack and so respond in kind. Of course, Africanize bees are the exception to the rule. You being there and breathing is all the reason they need to attack.

willibrord

Are the Africanized bees in decline due to pesticides like the regular honey bee?

DrIsotope

As mentioned above, if they came out of the ground they were probably not bees, but most likely hornets. Hornets are just plain mean.

I live in the part of SoCal where they still grow oranges, so we've got bees year round. They mostly keep to themselves, but I have been stung a few times after they've gotten stuck in my helmet.

GailT

I'll share my experience with African bees in the Congo - I accompanied these two guys several times to raid wild bee hives. They would light a fire to smoke the bees, and then safely remove the honey from the hive. You can see the flame at the bottom of the picture, and the guy on the left is hacking at the hollow log with a hand ax. I was a little worried the first time because "African bees" but I was never stung. Not to say they weren't dangerous without the fire.

79pmooney

QUOTE=KraneXL;20826373]Swarming vs protecting the hive. ...[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I"m pretty sure bears and bees get along just fine until that sweet tooth kicks in. And that sweet tooth means utter destruction to the hive.

As for the bees we were cycling against; this wasn't a swarm. It was many hives of bees just using the very convenient flyway (the road) to return loaded with pollen and nectar to the hive. Dinnertime at one of the world's best restaurants. (Except they didn't get to eat the food, just pack it away for rest of the hive later.)

Ben

CliffordK

That is what I was thinking. When one is running from a swarm, one doesn't always look at them very closely.

Dad plowed a nest of yellow jackets years ago. He was doing square corners, so he put the tractor in reverse and backed back over the nest he had just plowed up. Needless to say they weren't happy with him. But, with a bunch of stings, he still survived the day with little more than a bit of soreness.

My experience was a hiking/boating trip. I lost my trail in one place.. which was fine, I headed to the river, then boated upstream. But, when I went to explore where I knew the trail was the next day, I stepped on a nest of angry yellow jackets.

So, with a quick calculation, nothing in my pockets that could be damaged by water, I dove into the river like a cartoon scene. And, the yellow jackets quickly lost interest. I got quite a few stings, and was some distance up in the wilderness. But, again, I was OK. I think I've started swelling a bit more with stings since then.

But, really, the biggest risk is anaphylactic shock, and the people who are most at risk hopefully are prepared.

KraneXL

I know that story was not meant to be funny, but when I read it a rather amusing picture of some of nature's more tough learning experience flashed through my mind.

In other related news, I grew up in Florida (home of fire ants, and they are not native btw.). One day I was visiting my mother, and out mowing her lawn when my small niece came out to help me. Realizing it was to hazardous for her to be around any power equipment I gave he a seat on the other side of the yard I was working on.

Not long after, I noticed her jumping and screaming like she was having a fit. When I got to her her legs were covered in fire ants where she had stepped on and disturbed a nest. Of course I knocked the ants away and rinsed her legs with the water hose.

Nevertheless, I remember being both sincerely sadden at her pain and shamefully amused to see her bouncing across the yard like a jack rabbit once those ants got their hooks in her.

Lemond1985

"Oil that is ... Black Gold, Texas Bees,"

Bikesplendor

Maybe I should add that I had allergic reactions to bee stings as a child, along with a fair number of stings. I learned to be careful and have not been stung since.
​​​​Another sting may involve an allergic reaction.

BigAura

I'd carry an epipen IF you're truly allergic. I'd say if you've been stung a fair number of times it's unlikely you're severely allergic.

I'd read this, and see an allergist if you think you are in truly in danger.

jefnvk

I would suggest you prepare for the medical emergencies you know you may encounter then, and carry an epipen.

Bikesplendor

A quick thanks to those who think they know what I "need" to do, should do, or am doing so much better than I do.

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Bikesplendor

Thanks for that link. Interesting information. Some of it even useful information.

It would be great to talk with an allergist. It just isn't in the cards near-future, though.

What I wonder is how likely a childhood allergic reaction is likely to carry over into adulthood. Maybe there someone with experience, background, education or expertise that would enable them to address this?