Hornet bee killer in Washington state

I read a NY Times article about a hornet in Washington state and British Columbia. The hornet is 2" long, jaws of steel that can rip and cut meat from a sandwich plus a stinger than goes thru a beekeeper suit. The hornet kills bees for food.

I'll put that on my list of reasons NOT to go there then...

The biggest hornet we have here is Vespa Crabro - aka European hornet - that is up to an inch long (queens are - off course - larger) and hunt for smaller insects and larvae. Thankfully it's not aggressive unless provoked...

This "new" hornet is extremely territorial.

Yikes!!

Some good news:
When a hornet enters the hive of Japanese honeybees, researchers have witnessed how hundreds of bees can respond by forming a ball around a hornet. While the bees face an immense disadvantage in both size and strength, the bees working in unison can vibrate to produce heat, raising the temperature in the formation, like a tiny oven, to over 115 degrees. Bees can survive the high temperature, but the hornet cannot, and after up to an hour of cooking, the hornet dies.

Asian giant hornets.  They've been moving across Asia/Europe and are now in the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet

I think I read the same article yesterday.  These things are terrifying.

I read about them yesterday. Scary little buggers that rip the head off of all of the bees and just pile up the carcases right outside the hive so they can bring some meat back to their young.  If they make it to NY, my next pet is going to be a Honey Badger.

(05-04-2020, 09:37 AM)chromedometone Wrote: I read about them yesterday. Scary little buggers that rip the head off of all of the bees and just pile up the carcases right outside the hive so they can bring some meat back to their young.  If they make it to NY, my next pet is going to be a Honey Badger.

If they make it to NY I'm going to New Zealand.

If these things can develop a venom like that, why can’t humans develop a vaccine for The Covid 19?  
We’re smarter than hornets, aren’t we?

(05-04-2020, 04:09 PM)PATRIOT Wrote: If these things can develop a venom like that, why can’t humans develop a vaccine for The Covid 19?  
We’re smarter than hornets, aren’t we?

The hornets had thousands of years of evolution and we’ve chased a vaccine for... two or three months.

Fair enough...