Unbeelievable! (Freeze Frame).BEWARE THE buzzing bush! Last February, landscapers discovered this refrigerator-size bee colony nesting in an oleander oleander: see dogbane. oleander Any of the ornamental evergreen shrubs of the genus Nerium (dogbane family), which have poisonous milky juice. Numerous varieties of flower colour in the common oleander, or rosebay (N. bush in Phoenix, Arizona. "It was the largest, most horrendous bee colony I've ever seen in my 38 years of bee removals!" says bee expert Tom Martin of AAA AAA: see American Automobile Association. (Triple A) A common single-cell battery used in a myriad of electronic devices of all variety. Like its double A (AA) cousin, it provides 1.5 volts of DC power. When used in series, the voltage is multiplied. Africanized Bee Removal Service. Martin was called in to exterminate the six-foot, 300-pound hive, which was home to 60,000 Africanized honeybees (AHBs), commonly known as "killer bees." Unlike their subdued cousin, the European honeybee honeybee Broadly, any bee that makes honey (any insect of the tribe Apini, family Apidae); more strictly, one of the four species constituting the genus Apis. The term is usually applied to one species, the domestic honeybee (A. , AHBs are viciously territorial: Take one step too close to a colony and the bees attack! To ward off intruders, a bee plunges its four-millimeter-long stinger--along with its lower abdomen, venom sac, and part of its digestive tract--into its victim. Barbed lancets work like fishhooks to dig beneath the skin, where the stinger pumps out toxic venom. The bee also secretes a banana-scented chemical called an alarm pheromone pheromone Any chemical compound secreted by an organism in minute amounts to elicit a particular reaction from other organisms of the same species. Pheromones are widespread among insects and vertebrates (except birds) and are present in some fungi, slime molds, and algae. that signals other bees to join the attack. How do you remove killer bees? First, Martin suited up in head-to-toe protective gear. Then he doused the bees with calming chemicals and insecticides, and used blades to slice off chunks of the honeycomb honeycomb a mosaic of closely packed units with depressed centers giving a honeycomb appearance. honeycomb ringworm see favus. honeycomb stomach reticulum. . After four hours the bees were eradicated, but not without a fight. "They stung right through my suit!" Martin exclaims. --N.D. |
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