When I’m out hunting around here (Yavapai County AZ), bees are the only wildlife I worry about. I hear that Africanized bees will continue to pursue as far as a mile, and I could not run that far over this country even if I were not being stung.
A local beekeeper told me that Africanized bees have a warning behavior of flying into an intruder, so if you ever notice bees bumping into you, get away from there. She said not to swat any, because the pheromones released by the dying bee would trigger an attack by the rest.
I’ve been sedentary so long now I couldn’t run a mile on a track. Downhill. lol
Thanks for the tip on AfroBees bumping into you. I had never heard that and it could be a life saver. I knew about the pheromones. Even ordinary honey bees get more aggressive when they smell that one of their own got squished or left its stinger in something.
I explored a lot of AZ in the ‘90s, especially the southern counties, looking for medicinal plants, and when I think about the terrain it’s not a place I’d want to run for my life from man nor beasties. I kind of like that about AZ landscapes, very beautiful in its own way, but ‘friendly’ is not a word anyone would use to describe it. ‘Rugged’ is a good place to start and the adjectives just get more intense from there.