Ken Norton image66@xxxxxxx wrote:
How do you insult a bee?...etc...
guess the black flies from up north aren't that bad after all. Compared
to what all lives in the tropics...
Kerry, I can't wait to hear about your bouts with poisionous plants. We
just have poison ivy and oak up here.
Ken
Gee, Guys (& Gals) , that sounds like an intro into another one of my
tales... these are really cautionary, not to scare you. I'm really NOT
given to exageration, even if it seems otherwise.. I want folks to travel
and enjoy wild places, but I want them to come back, too.
I'm not super-woman.. on the contrary, I'm a dumpy, overweight 51 year old
dame that would rather drive than walk to the corner. If I can do it, than
anyone of you can.. You just need common sense and good planning and
masochistic tendencies to enjoy what's left of the wild areas of the world.
Each different climate has it's own idiocyncrasies.. but I'm willing to
bet there are representatives of all of them on this list-serv! I wouldn't
dream of going to an area I'm not familiar with without a trusty native
guide and a lot of reading beforehand.
Actually, Africanized Bees aren't too bad.. they are all over the place but
you don't hear about them except when someone has riled them, or stumbled
upon them (literally, they can nest in the ground!). I admit to having a
healthy FEAR of them, because I am highly allergic to bee stings.
For a long time, the folks researching the bees at STRI (Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute) in Panama - where we worked, thought they were
significantly larger and different than regular European honey bees.
Actually, I think the common acceptance now, is that it is really difficult
to tell them apart except for their agressiveness.
During Dry Season (Dec - Apr in Panama) they swarm and set out to start
new nests. They will nest in anything.. including kitchen drawers that
have been left open, trees, holes in the ground, even tin cans and open
backpacks etc. etc. So, unsuspecting folks might not notice them and stick
their hands in, or trip over them. THEN.. you really need to run fast and
find shelter. They will mark you with a pheramone when they bite & it is
in the air and brings in all their sisters who lose their tempers, too. A
real crotchity bunch! It is the NUMBER of stings that do a body in.. not
an individual bite.
I lived in a middle class (not luxury) 5th floor apartment in the center
of Panama City. (which cost me over $800/month in 1985!) It only had a few
jealousy window slats and NO screens on the windows - but windows all
around the walls. If I turned on the lights before dawn because we wanted
to leave the house early, or something,... from time to time, bees would
enter and start looking for places to make themselves at home. Needless to
say, I'd just turn off the lights, hopefully close a door to keep them in
the kitchen or living room, and figure that a good enough reason to sleep
in! It worked every time, they were gone when I got back up.
In the forest, however, it is another matter. Usually we were in VERY
rough terrain, vines, spiny palms (ANOTHER STORY!!), mud, steep, a litany
of reasons why one couldn't just close them out, or run. So, the best
anyone has come up with is just to rush (trying not to run headlong)
through as much brush, leafy bushes, etc. as possible as this apparently
will confuse them. Perhaps the pheremone is disrupted by the leaves
brushing against you and moving the air?? Maybe it confuses their flying
navigation? I don't know, but a few friends with the experience say it
helps. Of course, this is not an action to be taken lightly, because it is
incredibly easy to become lost and every green gully and hill looks exactly
like the last one. I've been lost for hours on two occasions even without
bees! It won't matter to me, because I'll have gone into anaphalactic
shock long before the bug bites are very numerous. Epi pens
(Epinephrin/Adrenaline) would be life saving for others, however. BTW,
they are already found from time to time in Florida and the Gulf Coast.
So.. the time will come when they will be a common part of our backyards, too.
The worst thing about them, is that they outcompete the indigenous bee life
for food resources, so the local bees die out. In Orchid terms, this might
turn out to be extinction because the orchids have evolved WITH their
pollinators, and the newcomers don't fit the bill.
Poisonous plants are everywhere, in our own back yards.. Our governments
use them for landscaping (like Oleander here in Florida). Sure, there are
lots in the tropics, but I certainly don't need to go there to find them.
Fortunately, I don't see to have developed an allergy to Poison Ivy or Oak,
yet.. It can come on at any time, though, I've been told.
Now if you want to talk about food, then I could really upset everyone!! I
don't really want to remember some of the things I've eaten, however..
What's past has left.. so to speak.
Kerry
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Kerry Dressler Email: bio-photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Bio-Photo Services, Inc. http://www.bio-photo.com
21305 NW 86th Ave TEL: (352)466-4215
Micanopy, FL 32667 FAX: (352)466-3151
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