9.12.2007 12:00 AM

Killer Bees Expand Range Into New Orleans

Africanized Honeybees are Small but Vicious -- and They Attack in Swarms

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By Dan Shapley

Africanized honeybees -- known as "killer bees" have expanded into New Orleans, according to a Louisiana agriculture official quoted by the Associated Press. The small, vicious bees attack in swarms.

They resulted from an experiment gone awry -- a Brazilian scheme to increase honey production led to the release of aggressive African bees that mated with native bees, resulting in the new hybrid. First found in the United States in 1990, they have spread from Texas both east and west.

It's been an historic year for bees, as Colony Collapse Disorder has rocked the beekeeping world. Unlike the honey bees being lost to that mysterious disease, or the native pollinators that are suffering from a variety of known and unknown causes, the hybrid killer bees do not appear to be suffering.

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