[at-l] barely a trip report

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

At 11:52 PM 10/11/01 -0500, Pat Villeneuve wrote:
>"Do not stop. BEES!" If only I had had my
>camera...

Mike taped a program on killer bees.  The above may be
dumb advice.  Seems that these killer bees bluff charge...sorta.

The bee expert said they do a behavior called head butting....
guard bees fly into you but don't sting.  If you swat one or piss it off
by continuing on, it will release a pheromone that signals
the hive and as many as 5000 bees will be on your case.

These puppys will lay down 15 stings per square inch
and 400 stings will kill ya.  They will also chase you
200+ meters.  If you hide in the water, they will hover
for a day and sting anything that surfaces (How loooong
can you hold your breath?)

Bottom line, according to this guy is to be aware of the
head butting behavior and if you encounter it, turn around
and walk away.  Walk away...not run because you don't
want to pound the earth cause that may excite them.
And don't yell cause they are sensitive to noise and
that may excite them.

This guy also said that there is nothing that will stop
the spread of the Africanized bees.  They will supplant
the wild population in all the hot states and will appear
even farther north, during the summer months because,
unlike our regular bees, they throw off swarms several
times a year, rather than just one.

Probably not gonna be too much of a problem for most
of the AT but FT, PCT and CDT hikers as well as anyone
who hikes in the southern states had better beware and
remember the head butting behavior.

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