Editing Africanized bee (section)

== Consequences of selection ==
The chief difference between the European subspecies of honey bees kept by beekeepers and the African ones is attributable to both selective breeding and natural selection. By selecting only the most gentle, non-defensive subspecies, beekeepers have, over centuries, eliminated the more defensive ones and created a number of subspecies suitable for [[apiculture]].

In Central and southern Africa there was formerly no tradition of beekeeping, and the hive was destroyed in order to harvest the honey, pollen and larvae. The bees adapted to the climate of Sub-Saharan Africa, including prolonged droughts. Having to defend themselves against aggressive insects such as ants and wasps, as well as voracious animals like the honey badger, African honey bees evolved as a subspecies group of highly defensive bees unsuitable by a number of metrics for domestic use.<ref>{{cite web |title=Why are Africanized bees defensive |url=https://www.socal-beekeeping.com/2017-08-26AfricanizedBeesDefensive.htm |website=www.socal-beekeeping.com}}</ref>

As Africanized honey bees migrate into regions, hives with an old or absent queen can become hybridized by crossbreeding. The aggressive Africanized drones out-compete European drones for a newly developed queen of such a hive, ultimately resulting in hybridization of the existing colony.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} Requeening, a term for replacing out the older existing queen with a new, already fertilized one, can avoid hybridization in apiaries. As a prophylactic measure, the majority of beekeepers in North America tend to requeen their hives annually, maintaining strong colonies and avoiding hybridization.<ref>{{cite web |title=Africanized Bees |url=https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/killbee |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref>

=== Defensiveness ===
Africanized honey bees exhibit far greater defensiveness than [[Western honey bee|European honey bee]]s and are more likely to deal with a perceived threat by attacking in large swarms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/ahb.htm|title=Africanized honey bee - Apis mellifera scutellata Lepeletier|last=Ellis|first=Jamie|date=January 2008|website=University of Florida Entymology and Nematology Department}}</ref> These hybrids have been known to pursue a perceived threat for a distance of well over 500&nbsp;meters (1,640&nbsp;ft).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Common Races of Honey Bees PerfectBee |url=https://www.perfectbee.com/learn-about-bees/the-science-of-bees/common-races-of-honey-bee |website=www.perfectbee.com}}</ref>

The venom of an Africanized honey bee is the same as that of a European honey bee, but since the former tends to sting in far greater numbers, deaths from them are naturally more numerous than from European honey bees.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Are Africanized honey bees more deadly than other bees? |url=http://www.bearcountrybees.com/are-africanized-honey-bees-more-deadly-than-other-bees/ |access-date=2015-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715153855/http://www.bearcountrybees.com/are-africanized-honey-bees-more-deadly-than-other-bees/ |archive-date=2015-07-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> While allergies to the European honey bee may cause death, complications from Africanized honey bee stings are usually not caused from allergies to their venom. Humans stung many times by the Africanized honey bees can exhibit serious side effects such as inflammation of the skin, dizziness, headaches, weakness, [[edema]], nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Some cases even progress to affecting different body systems by causing increased heart rates, respiratory distress, and even renal failure.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mitchell, Anne |title=Africanized killer bees |journal=Critical Care Nurse |volume=26 |issue=3 |year=2006 |pages=23–31 |doi=10.4037/ccn2006.26.3.23 |url=http://ccn.aacnjournals.org/content/26/3/23.full|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | pmid = 20613852 | year = 2010
| last1 = Mejía Vélez | first1 = G | title = Insuficiencia renal aguda por picadura múltiple de abejas africanizadas. Comunicación de 43&nbsp;casos |trans-title=Acute renal failure due to multiple stings by Africanized bees. Report on 43&nbsp;cases |journal=Nefrologia | volume = 30 | issue = 5 | pages = 531–538 | doi = 10.3265/Nefrologia.pre2010.May.10269 }}</ref> Africanized honey bee sting cases can become very serious, but they remain relatively rare and are often limited to accidental discovery in highly populated areas.