Attack of the Killer Bees
Posted: November 13th, 2017, 9:12 am
It is common knowledge certain species of wildlife pose a hazard when exploring the Arizona back country. Cougars come first to mind but this elusive apex predator is rarely seen or known to molest humans.
On our latest Chinook expedition to the Dragoons we learned first hand Africanized bees can be extremely aggressive and quite dangerous. They are supposed to be hibernating mid November but we were beset after just one flew into the running Fan-Tastic vent fan of our RV and became promptly shredded. No doubt some alarm pheromones were released as an angry swarm then rallied to the defense and were also digested by the blades.
The bee bits became glued to the fan by their excretions and presented a hazardous waste clean up. I foolishly removed the bottom screen in the cool of early morning to brush off the remains but got stung on still active body parts. Researchers claim 500 stings are equal to one rattlesnake bite in toxicity. We are always cautious about startling usually defensive rattlesnakes but these bees ramp things up to a much higher level of relentless aggression.
We escaped the area in our ATV on some old mining roads into the mountains to find the route to the summit of Apache Peak. This is a notorious 4WD trail along a narrow shelf road with no turn around spots. Extreme terrain quite unsuitable for the Chinook!
On our latest Chinook expedition to the Dragoons we learned first hand Africanized bees can be extremely aggressive and quite dangerous. They are supposed to be hibernating mid November but we were beset after just one flew into the running Fan-Tastic vent fan of our RV and became promptly shredded. No doubt some alarm pheromones were released as an angry swarm then rallied to the defense and were also digested by the blades.
The bee bits became glued to the fan by their excretions and presented a hazardous waste clean up. I foolishly removed the bottom screen in the cool of early morning to brush off the remains but got stung on still active body parts. Researchers claim 500 stings are equal to one rattlesnake bite in toxicity. We are always cautious about startling usually defensive rattlesnakes but these bees ramp things up to a much higher level of relentless aggression.
We escaped the area in our ATV on some old mining roads into the mountains to find the route to the summit of Apache Peak. This is a notorious 4WD trail along a narrow shelf road with no turn around spots. Extreme terrain quite unsuitable for the Chinook!