30 Hornets!!

[Mully]

Have you seen this.......?

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/835/

[pheonix]

Thats crazy!
Id be scared if i was a bee

[GRH]

They're Japanese Hornets. Only the European Honeybees are susceptible to them in Japan. The native honeybees have evolved a defence mechanism whereby they swarm all over the hornets and vibrate their wings, raise their body temperature and 'cook the hornets alive'. (Saw it in a documentary).

Greg

[John2]

Have you seen this.......?

That is very cool Mully.I wish the video quality was a bit better,but it was still excellent to watch.
The only bit that made me laugh was the dubbed on screams,lol,that was a bit OTT.
Cheers for posting a great link.
John

They're Japanese Hornets. Only the European Honeybees are susceptible to them in Japan. The native honeybees have evolved a defence mechanism whereby they swarm all over the hornets and vibrate their wings, raise their body temperature and 'cook the hornets alive'. (Saw it in a documentary).
Greg

Wow that's some cool info Greg.
Nice one.
John

[pet]

Nice one Mully, respect is due to both, specially the bee's for fighting the cause and not doing one!

[Pyrausta]

Can't see anything that looks like hornets now. Has the link changed? I saw a queen hornet in Egham this spring. Flew across the garden, bounced off my car, did it again, then flew into the building under construction next door. Unmistakeable.
I hear they eat hornets and hornet grubs in Japan. The country is very mountainous and protein poor. If you are far from the sea, you eat what you can get! I think I'd rather try teh small white terrestrial crabs.

[daphers]

I KNOW it's nature, but that was horrible!!!!!

[pheonix]

Originally Posted by GRH

They're Japanese Hornets. Only the European Honeybees are susceptible to them in Japan. The native honeybees have evolved a defence mechanism whereby they swarm all over the hornets and vibrate their wings, raise their body temperature and 'cook the hornets alive'. (Saw it in a documentary).

Greg

Ive seen this too, the bees can only survive something like 0.2-0.3 degrees for a certain amount of time so its an amazing survival method. they have too get the scout though before the rest or they dont stand a chance.

[Mr Mag00]

Wow,Go boyz

[Pyrausta]

Another Hornet sighting at Langham Ponds on Saturday. I was watching insects on labiate, possibly Gipsywort. A big insect came buzzing around. I could see very rusty colour hair on the thorax and a very yellow abdomen. I wondered if it was one of those giant sawfly things on one of the other postings. Then it grabbed a wasp, right in front of me, and dropped into the foliage to deal with it. I could clearly see the abdomen markings.
I couldn't see much more of it, and didn't want to disturb it! It flew off with it's burden. A few minutes later, it, or another, was back, hunting on the same plants.
I assume this was a worker. It's flight was very purposeful. It pounced extremely fast. The queen I saw in spring was clumsy by comparison.
I had seen a wasp taking a spider in my garden earlier on. I suppose the dragonflies take the hornets. That would be interesting to see!