The important difference between the European and Africanized honey bee is in its behavior. The Africanized honey bee quickly defends its hive and will pursue intruders longer distances than the European honey bee. The sting of one Africanized honey bee is no more potent than the sting of a single European honey bee. Most stinging incidents have involved animals, but on rare occasions humans have been attacked. Stinging attacks occur only when the Africanized honey bee nest, or territory, is threatened by the noise or vibration of an intruder such as tractors or other vehicles.
Honey bees increase the number of colonies and the probability of survival by swarming.
Africanized honey bees swarm more often than European honey bees resulting in the Africanized honey bee's gaining a population advantage over the European honey bee. Occasional swarms on-board ships from South and Central America are a concern, but not a major threat to the American public or the U.S. beekeeping industry. Africanized honey bees are much less selective in nesting sites than are the European honey bees. They can be found in underground cavities that afford little space for comb-building or protection from the climate, compared to the European honey bee nests in a hollow tree or wall void with at least 40 liters of space that is above ground, clean and dry. Research indicates that the northern expansion limit of the Africanized honey bee will extend to central Texas.