Danger Lurking: Africanized Bees, Banana Spiders, and Black Mambas
Africanized Honey Bees, originally introduced in Brazil, have spread to the United States, posing a threat due to their aggressive behavior. The Brazilian Wandering Spider, also known as the Banana Spider, can deliver a venomous bite among bananas. Additionally, the Black Mamba, a carnivorous snake with impressive size and speed, adds to the dangerous wildlife in certain regions.
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In 1956 African bees were brought to Brazil so that scientists there could try to develop a honey bee better adapted to tropical areas. Unfortunately, some of the bees escaped and began breeding with local Brazilian honey bees. Since 1957, these bees and their hybrid offspring, Africanized Honey Bees, have been multiplying and migrating to other regions. The first swarm of Africanized bees in the United States was documented in 1990 at Hidalgo, Texas. They were found in Arizona and New Mexico in 1993, California in 1994 and in Nevada in 1998. As of this writing, Africanized Honey Bees can be found in most of mid and southern Texas, about one-third of New Mexico, all over Arizona, the southern half of New Mexico and the southern third of California. They continue their northward migration. Honey bees only strike once and they die but these bees strike in swarms and can strike multiple times! Imagine being stung by a bee but about a million times and they all have a little bit of venom in there stingers! Which can kill you. The sting of the Africanized Honey Bee is no more potent than your garden variety honey bee and they look pretty much the same. What makes AHBs more dangerous is that they are more easily provoked, quick to swarm, attack in greater numbers, and pursue their victims for greater distances. The AHB colony can remain agitated longer and may attack up to a quarter of a mile away from the hive. AHBs are likely to develop near canals, drainage ditches and retention basins because they like to be near water. When they sense rain, they swarm. In Arizona, the AHB colonies have grown and the more aggressive colonies are the ones that have survived the droughts of the past few years. The summer is the peak period for bee attacks because there is less honey, and the bees become more protective of their hives.
Pictures and maps Killer Bee Close up. Migration to Brazil to North America.
The Banana Spider is known to hide among bananas shipped to the US and is really called the Brazilian Wandering Spider. These spiders are aggressive and very venomous and not intimidated by size (can attack people when threatened. The odd part about the Banana Spider is that studies indicate only 33% of the spider bites actually contain any significant amount of venom, but those that are injected with venom could be in serious danger! If you are bitten by the spider you should seek immediate emergency medication as the venom could be life threatening. Its has said to have one of the most painful spider bites due to the high level of serotonin. Despite the Banana Spider s reputation as the world s deadliest spider, there are multiple studies that dispute the ability for the spider to actually kill a human and one study suggested that a little over 2% of these spider bites (mostly in children) were serious enough to require antivenin. If you see a spider hiding in a cluster of Bananas, you should move right along and possibly inform the store manager that is may be a Banana Spider! Symptoms of a bite include immediate pain, cold sweat, salivation, and occasional death. FUN FACT Females lay there eggs on the top of the banana!
Pictures of the Banana Spider. Map of the bananas spider location. (There s a lot in In Arizona.)
The Black Mamba is carnivore. Its lifespan is 11 years in the wild. It can grow up to 14ft (4.3m). It weights up to 3.5lbs (1.6Kg) Black mambas are fast, nervous, lethally venomous, and when threatened, highly aggressive. They have been blamed for numerous human deaths, and African myths exaggerate their capabilities to legendary proportions. For these reasons, the black mamba is widely considered the world s deadliest snake. Before the antivenin, a bite from the snake was 100% fatal and will kill you in about 20min.We do have antivenin but usually is not near where the snake lives so you will usually die before ever getting the antivenin . The Black Mamba lives in South Africa. They like open, low habitats such as savannas, rocky places and open woodlands. They are active during the day. They often sleep in hollow trees, burrows, rock crevices, or empty termite mounds, and will come back to the same place every night. They are invulnerable, because no animal can actually kill them. Their venom can kill just about anything, so they don't have much to worry about. The mamba is mainly threatened by habitat destruction. The source of the venom is their powerful jaws.
Picture of the Black Mamba. Location of the Black Mamba.
The females are four inches the males are three inches. They have strange colors depending on the environment. They also have very big pinchers but there NOT powerful. There habitat is the desert they live in the Middle east and North Africa. Their source of venom is the powerful stinger! The Symptoms of the sting it a flu-like symptoms. Coughing, dreary, and sleepiness. If you get stung call some one ASAP! You probably wont die from the sting but its still venomous and can hurt your body.
Where the scorpion CAN be found. A picture of the Death Stalker Scorpion.
Komodo dragons are the biggest and heaviest lizards on earth! Full-grown adults can reach up to 10 feet (3 meters)long and weigh more than 300 pounds (140 kilograms)! Most weigh about 150 pounds (70 kilograms). They have been around the earth for millions of years but scientist didn t study them till about a hundred years ago. They are powerful-looking reptiles with wide, flat heads, rounded snouts, bowed legs, and huge, muscular tails. They have a clumsy, back-and-forth walk, and their yellow tongues flick in and out constantly. An animal that escapes the jaws of a Komodo won't feel lucky for long. Dragon saliva contains large amounts of bacteria, which poisons their victims, usually within 24 hours. Dragons will calmly follow their bitten prey for miles, using their keen sense of smell to find the corpse. They live in volcanic islands that aren t populated.
Here is where the Komodo Dragon CAN be found. Picture of the Komodo Dragon.
