Are Africanized honey bees and the killer bee the same thing?
A – The short answer is yes. People who are familiar with honey bees call them Africanized Honey Bees because that’s what they are, a hybrid of the African Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera Scutellata). They became dubbed “killer bees” by Hollywood movies and poor news coverage. Since 1990 when the Africanized Honey Bee entered the United States there have only been about 16 human deaths due to the defensive nature of these bees. Not what I would consider “killer” by a long shot.
