Murder hornets, also known as Giant Asian hornets have arrived in America. Their sting can kill you and they are able to kill honey bees by the thousands. However, these 2″ long psycho insects can be taken out by bees as well…Japanese bees to be exact. And how these Japanese bees kill murder hornets is both crazy and interesting.
Asian giant hornets are best known for their ability to decimate honeybee hives, decapitating bee after bee during what the Washington State Department of Agriculture called a “slaughter phase” in a blog post, destroying one hive within a matter of hours.
In Asia however, the bees have learned to fight back and kick some serious hornet a**!
Japanese honeybees are able to form hot defensive “bee balls” in order to collectively cook hornets at a temperature that the bees can withstand but the hornets cannot. By surrounding the hornets and vibrating their flight muscles, the honeybees produce heat up to 47 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit).
A National Geographic video shows the process in action, explaining how it serves to protect the hive as a whole. A solitary “murder hornet” scout approaches a honeybee hive as a means of scouting out the hive and marking it with a pheromone that will allow fellow hornets to find it. But that approach will ultimately kill the hornet and the hornets friends and family!
The video shows the hornet being swarmed by hundreds of bees all at once, with thermal photography revealing the temperature increase as the honeybees raise the temperature within the bee ball to a precise temperature and roasting the hornet alive.