Be(e) Alert! Africanized Honeybees in Grand Canyon

ell, they’re here. A Diamond River Adventures trip was attacked by Africanized honey bees at Pumpkin Spring on the 4th of July this summer. The crew and passengers noticed groups of honey bees hanging around the beach area, and several people were stung multiple times. Ms. Diamond had the good sense to collect a few bees and send them to us, and the three good specimens were identified as being Africanized honey bees. So what does this mean to us on the river?
The lower Grand Canyon supports a sufficiently diverse flowering plant assemblage to support feral honey bees year round (Yes, Mildred, honey bees are European and not native to the United States). Africanized bees arrived in Arizona a couple of years ago, and have been spreading northward rapidly. They were encountered on the Northern Arizona University campus this year. Larry Stevens thinks it rather unlikely that Africanized bees will be able to move up-canyon into the narrow reaches around Havasu and the middle and upper Granite gorges; however, they have become a threat to river runners in the lower canyon, and may descend from higher elevations in wide reaches of the upper Canyon.
Dr. Eric Ericson, director of the U.S.D.A. Honey Bee and Insect Biological Control Laboratory in Tucson has offered to speak at the guides training session next spring, and had some recommendations for those who might come into contact with Africanized honey bees (UIPMT, 1995).

* Africanized honey bees look very much like regular feral European honey bees, so be on guard when you see any honey bees around. The Africanized grouping behavior may be an indication of impending trouble. If you don’t know what honey bees look like, read an illustrated edition of Winnie The Pooh.

* Individual Africanized honey bee stings are no more dangerous than European honey bee stings, but the Africanized bees are more likely to attack en masse and with less provocation.

* Don’t hassle honey bee nests. In the lower Canyon honey bees nest up in cracks in the schist, and Stevens has seen free hanging honey bee nests in mesquite trees, and seems to recall nests near Granite Park Spring (1 km up Granite Park Canyon), and near Mile 231 on the left.

* Small colonies are less likely to be defensive than large colonies, so a hive may become more dangerous through time.

* Africanized bees may be provoked by, or attracted to, dark leathery or furry objects (e.g., dark pile clothing), as well as scented shampoo, soaps, perfumes and heavily scented gum. They find motors annoying, and see red as black and are attracted to it, so avoid wearing red.

HOW TO PREPARE
AND WHAT TO DO IF ATTACKED

1. THINK AHEAD: Keep escape routes in mind, and keep track of your passenger’s sensitivity to bee sting anaphylaxis. It might be good to carry a couple of bee sting kits in your coolers. It might be good to set up a couple of tents as refuges and/or have face nets available when you are in bee country.

2. IF YOU OR YOUR PASSENGERS ARE ATTACKED, DO NOT JUMP IN THE RIVER: Irritated bees hang around the battle scene, sometimes for hours, and only gradually drift away. You would die of hypothermia before the bees leave and they will attack you when you come up for air.

3. GET AWAY FROM THE SITE: It is unlikely that Africanized bees could keep up with a motor rig at full speed (10 mph), but it is unclear whether or how far they would follow oar boats. If nothing else, have everyone just run away as quickly as possible. Protect your faces with shirts or towels, but try not to swat at the bees as this only provokes them more.

4. ONCE SAFE, REMOVE STINGERS AND ASSESS THE NEED FOR EVACUATION: Once away from the bees, remove any stingers left in the skin by scraping them off with your fingernails or a knife blade. Don’t try to pull the stinger out because you will only pump more venom into the wound. Evacuation is recommended for anyone who is sensitive to bee stings or has been stung more than 15 times.

5. LASTLY: If you can, collect 10-20 bees for identification. Pack them dry in a jar with toilet paper and don’t let them mildew. Get them to one of us so that we can keep track of the invasion rate. It is not certain how Africanized bees will fare through our cold Grand Canyon winters, or how susceptible they are to the mite parasites that are wiping out European honey bee hives across the country. Let’s work to keep the communication going with this new issue, and particularly what does and doesn’t work in the unique field situations in which we are working.

Larry Stevens and Jim Petterson
GCES and Grand Canyon Science Center

Literature cited

Urban Integrated Pest Management Team. 1995. Africanized honey bees: outdoor recreation tips. College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Pooh and bees © E.P. Dutton