Trivia question for Jul-28-2011

Posted on Jul 28, 2011 in Trivia

Olivia picked these bees for their strange habits.  Lets see how you do with her trivia.  These bees are a subspecies of the common honey bee, buy these will pursue victims for up t 1/4-mile.   They will invade and takeover the hives of various other varieties of honey bees.

Here are some facts that might help you figure out what type of bees these are:

  • Tends to swarm more frequently and go farther than other types of honeybees.
  • Is more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply.
  • Is more likely to “abscond”—the entire colony leaves the hive and relocates—in response to stress.
  • Has greater defensiveness when in a resting swarm, compared to other honey bee types.
  • Lives more often in ground cavities than the European types.
  • Guards the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive.
  • Has a higher proportion of “guard” bees within the hive.
  • Deploys in greater numbers for defense and pursues perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive.
  • Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing introduction into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what kind of bee this is and tell us how often the queen bee will mate in her lifetime?  Also, relative to its size and weight, these bees are faster than any other winged creature in the world.  Tell us how fast they can fly?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Olivia is all smiles today because no one answered her trivia correctly.  The fascinating bee we featured is the Africanized honey bee. Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as “killer bees,” are hybrids of the African honey bee, with various European honey bees such as the Italian bee. These bees are far more aggressive than the European subspecies. Small swarms of Africanized bees are capable of taking over European honey beehives by invading the hive and establishing their own queen after killing the European queen.

The queen mates only once during her lifetime and kills other juvenile queens.  These killers are able to fly up to 25-mph  which makes them one of the fastest wing creatures on earth relative to its size and weight.  Here is more on the deadly bees: Africanized honey bee

Thanks for playing along 😉