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Bees & human culture

The bee as immigrant, medicine, weapon, and ethical subject — the tangled species relationship between humans and honeybees across history.

The Africanized bee story

Africanized honeybees are a hybrid of African and European bees, bred in the 1950s for tropical productivity. The term 'Africanized' is a wholly American naming phenomenon; South Americans call them 'abejas bravas' (fierce bees).

1950sAfrican bees brought to Brazil to increase the gene pool for a tropical working bee; some escaped and bred with European bees.
1965The phrase 'killer bees' begins appearing in American newspapers, generating media hysteria.
1970sBeekeepers in Brazil smuggle aggressive queens back to the US to breed 'better bees' — an alternative oral history rarely recorded.
1990Africanized bees first arrive in the United States via Texas, having spread through Central America from Brazil.
PresentFound as far north as Georgia. They cannot survive cooler northern climates, limiting their range.
✦Africanized bees do not have more harmful venom — they are easier to agitate, attack in greater numbers, and chase threats up to a mile.
✦They establish hives in unexpected locations — underground or in sidewalls — making them more likely to be disturbed.
✦The Africanized genome supplants European genomes; the two do not hybridize well due to aggressive mating patterns.
✦Some beekeepers argue Africanized bees are 'good hearty bees' — strong, survivors, not sickly — miscast by fear-based narratives.
✦There is no hard scientific rule for how many 'African' genes make a hive 'Africanized' — the taxonomy is subjective.

Bee-venom therapy

Bee-venom therapy (BVT) injects venom through the stinger to alleviate inflammation and joint pain. The honeybee's stinger is barbed — when she stings and flies away, barbs pull part of the abdomen out, killing the bee.

Melittin

A powerful anti-inflammatory — the primary active protein in bee venom.

Adolapin

Anti-inflammatory and pain-blocking ingredient.

⚠ Approximately 1% of the human population will experience anaphylaxis — a life-threatening allergic reaction — to bee stings.

⚠ The bee dies after stinging; the stinger continues pumping venom even after removal from the bee.

⚠ Practitioners hold a bee by the wings and press the abdomen to the skin; drones (no stinger) are useless for BVT.

Medihoney & Manuka

Manuka honey — a mono-floral honey from the manuka bush (Leptospermum scoparium) in New Zealand — is clinically proven to shorten wound healing and is effective against MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).

✓The manuka bush flowers for only six weeks each year; bees pollinate it for roughly two to three weeks.
✓Medihoney (Comvita) owns 75% of the Manuka honey supply; the industry is projected at $1 billion for New Zealand.
✓Treatments include gel sheets, tulle dressings, wound gel, barrier cream, and apinate dressings — available OTC and by prescription.
✓Used for leg/foot ulcers, pressure and diabetic ulcers, burns, surgical wounds, bedsores, and abrasions.
✓New Zealand actively recruits overseas beekeepers due to a domestic shortage.

Military uses of bees

Bees are 'the oldest tactic in biological warfare' — the word 'bombard' comes from the Greek bombos, the buzzing of a bee. Hives have been catapulted as bombs since before the 11th century.

Historical

• Egyptian hieroglyphics show bees launched at enemies and invaders.

• The Tiv people of Nigeria designed a bee cannon; Mayans had a type of bee grenade; Hungarians used bee boles.

• Romans, Scandinavians, and many others catapulted hives at adversaries wherever bees were found locally.

• Beehives used as barricades; poisoned honey placed strategically for unsuspecting troops.

Modern

• Since the mid-1950s, the US Army 'recruited bees' for hazardous-waste reconnaissance — they pick up toxic agents on their fur.

• DARPA, Lockheed Martin, and Sandia National Laboratories funded research to use honeybees as chemical and biological detectors.

• Bees trained to react to C4 and TNT; described as 'nature's rugged robots' and 'border security sentries'.

• Jerry Bromenshenk's University of Montana research applies bees to land-mine detection by chemical signatures.

• Cuba accused the US of introducing Varroa mites in the 1960s — agricultural bioterrorism targeting food security.

Bee ethics — two futures

The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 excludes insects entirely — bees have no legal protection. Posthuman studies asks us to consider the moral community of all experiencing subjects, not just the warm and furry.

Radical disengagement

A vegan-like relationship: take nothing from bees, let them roam, swarm, and pollinate where they want. No honey harvest, no sting therapies, no breeding, no antibiotics. Stop pesticides, GM crops, and habitat destruction. Better for bees; costly for humans.

Ethical engagement

Create deliberate working conditions considering bee health. Harvest less honey; reinvest proceeds in pollinator gardens. Treat Varroa minimally. Give commercial bees plant diversity, not monoculture. Establish transport and workday standards. Become 'bee centered.'

✦Bees are not passive recipients of human direction — they react, respond, swarm, sting, navigate, collaborate, and decide.
✦We need the bees; they do not need us. Our food chain depends on their labor; the reverse is not true.
✦Bees are semiferal and semidomesticated — we could fall away from their lives quite easily, as we are mostly irrelevant to their survival.
✦Honey is the only substance that fulfills the same need in bees and humans; every other hive product has different human vs. bee utility.
✦Considering insects as an extension of the animal kingdom is worthy of debate — the us/them boundary is porous through honey and venom.

100 plants to feed the bees

Native Wildflowers

43 plants

Anise Hyssop · Aster · Beebalm · Black-Eyed Susan · Blanketflower · Blazing Star · California Poppy · Coreopsis · Goldenrod · Milkweed · Purple Coneflower · Sunflower · Wild Geranium · Wild Indigo

Native Trees & Shrubs

32 plants

Acacia · Basswood · Black Locust · Blueberry · Buttonbush · Golden Currant · Manzanita · Mesquite · Redbud · Serviceberry · Tulip Tree · Tupelo · Wild Lilac · Willow

Introduced Trees & Shrubs

2 plants

Orange · Plum / Cherry / Almond / Peach

Introduced Herbs & Ornamentals

12 plants

Basil · Borage · Catnip · Coriander · Cosmos · Hyssop · Lavender · Mint · Oregano · Rosemary · Russian Sage · Thyme

Native & Nonnative Bee Pasture

11 plants

Alfalfa · Buckwheat · Clover · Cowpea · Mustard · Radish · Sainfoin · Scarlet Runner Bean · Sweetclover · Vetch

Pollinator pioneers

Dr. Edith Patch

1936

First female president of the Entomological Society of America. Foreshadowed pollinator conservation in 'Without Benefit of Insects,' predicting 'Insect Gardens' by the year 2000.

Frank Chapman Pellett

1920s

Established possibly the first large-scale bee garden in the US. Author of American Honey Plants (1920) — possibly still the best publication of its kind.

Dr. Eva Crane

1942–1990s

Quantum mathematician given a beehive in 1942. Devoted five decades to nearly 200 books and articles on honey plants and beekeeping in 60+ countries.

President Barack Obama

2015

Released a first-of-its-kind memorandum directing federal agencies to protect pollinator habitat and offer financial incentives for restoration on private lands.