?
Bob said:

> He had isolated the genes which caused aggression and had sent semen to 
> the lab from AHb without the aggressive genes.
Peter said:
Nobody in the 1950s had the capacity to "remove" genes of any kind, even if 
there were specific genes which "cause" aggression, which there aren't.

I can see you do not understand what was going on at the time. Go into the 
archives and read my posts.
I know exactly what I am talking about.

bees were inbred until the up to three genes Dr. Kerr felt were responsible 
for aggression did not show up and then the semen from those drones was sent 
to Steve Tabor.


>I None of this was known by Kerr or anyone else, in the 1950s.

Maybe not to you but Dr. Kerr was years ahead of what was common knowledge 
in the area. I have discussed the subject directly with Steve Tabor and Gary 
Reynolds. Whats the source of your information?

Kerr was the first to ship semen and cerdited for being the first to ship 
bee semen. Tabor was the person receiving the semen. Kerr was in the opinion 
of many researchers the worlds foremost bee geneticist of the period.

>All honey bee colonies respond aggressively when
their colony is disturbed or attacked, but there is striking variation
in the intensity of their response. In docile colonies only a few bees
may respond, whereas in more aggressive colonies, the response
may involve hundreds or even thousands of stinging individuals.

Have you ever seen a hive of scuts Peter? A yes or no will do.>
Scuts are a step aboue any european bees I ever worked.

AHB mostly have A. m. scutellata-like behavioral traits,
especially a highly aggressive colony defense.

Again your opinion. Not what we see in Texas! A few hive yes but most hives 
have a percentage of AHb genetics with no aggression.

There is the *real* world of U.S. beekeeping and then the world of internet 
hype.

I come to the table with direct knowledge of the subject involved at the 
time told to me by the researchers involved. If you go back and read the 
Kerr articles of the period you will see I have the story correct. I have 
years ago added the parts of the story not published in the bee mags 
(archives).

If you research my old BEE_L posts on the subject ( archives) you will see 
why the Tabor hives were depopulated. Gary Reynolds depopulated the hives 
while Steve was on vacation.

There have been countless articles written with opinions an hype about AHb 
and what went on with Dr. Kerr and Steve Tabor. About the way AHb will end 
U>S. beekeeping.
Many times researchers took another authors article and wrote their own 
article while neither author had ever seen a AHb hive or even an aggressive 
hive in their life.

bob

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