"Murder hornets" are coming #2020

Post by **TheCatt** » Sun May 03, 2020 10:35 am

In his decades of beekeeping, Ted McFall had never seen anything like it.

As he pulled his truck up to check on a group of hives near Custer, Washington, in November, he could spot from the window a mess of bee carcasses on the ground. As he looked closer, he saw a pile of dead members of the colony in front of a hive and more carnage inside — thousands and thousands of bees with their heads torn from their bodies and no sign of a culprit.

“I couldn’t wrap my head around what could have done that,” McFall said.

Only later did he come to suspect that the killer was what some researchers simply call the “murder hornet.”

With queens that can grow to 2 inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit — make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.

In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States.

Post by **GORDON** » Sun May 03, 2020 11:36 am

Oh, yay.

Post by **Troy** » Sun May 03, 2020 12:19 pm

Post by **thibodeaux** » Sun May 03, 2020 2:27 pm

Really looking forward to the next 8 plagues.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Mon May 04, 2020 3:22 am

I say we nuke Asia. From Carp, to Viruses, to murdering hornets. Doesn't ANYthing come out of there that isn't trying to end humanity and take over the world? How many more acts of aggression do we tolerate?

Post by **Leisher** » Mon May 04, 2020 8:53 am

Cakedaddy wrote: I say we nuke Asia. From Carp, to Viruses, to murdering hornets. Doesn't ANYthing come out of there that isn't trying to end humanity and take over the world? How many more acts of aggression do we tolerate?

You're not wrong.

Post by **GORDON** » Mon May 04, 2020 8:57 am

Well now you sound like me. Better rein it in.

Post by **thibodeaux** » Mon May 04, 2020 12:45 pm

I was gonna say...I don't want to be the bad guy but since we've got a consensus: down with Asia.

Japan is cool, though. Waifus and anime.

Post by **Troy** » Thu May 07, 2020 8:12 pm

My Master Gardner mom feels very strongly that this is fake news. Basically tiny population and no evidence of a big spread. And that it is causing people to kill unrelated native bees and hornets. All MSM hype.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu May 07, 2020 8:39 pm

Saw a vid today of an American praying mantis easily snatching and eating a murder hornet. All may not be lost. Tons of PMs around my house.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu May 07, 2020 9:14 pm

Post by **Leisher** » Thu May 07, 2020 9:51 pm

Bees have a pretty bad ass way of killing them too.

https://youtu.be/K6m40W1s0Wc

Post by **GORDON** » Thu May 07, 2020 10:05 pm

Is that where they envelop and cook it?

Post by **Leisher** » Thu May 07, 2020 11:26 pm

Yep. Nature is amazing.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Fri May 08, 2020 1:15 pm

That seems extremely inefficient.

Post by **Leisher** » Fri May 08, 2020 2:51 pm

And yet it works perfectly.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Fri May 08, 2020 3:18 pm

How many bees died during the cooking process? How long does it take to get to temp, then the cooking time? Meanwhile, that hornet is decapitating bees at a rate of x per minute.

I imagine a lone swordsman in a crowded room. He attacks and starts slashing. Meanwhile, the victims are all throwing single grains of rice at him, eventually, there is enough rice piled up around him and he is slowed, then eventually suffocated under the pile of rice. It worked, but at what cost?

Post by **Leisher** » Fri May 08, 2020 3:34 pm

Watch. The. Video.

It goes rather quickly. They're not heating up a 2000 sq ft room. They're heating up the immediately area around the hornet that now can't move. Also, it grabbing one of them is the signal for them to swarm. The hornet is trapped by their weight. He's not down there murdering them.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Fri May 08, 2020 4:37 pm

I did watch the video!

I bet they took heavy losses. The video doesn't really illustrate how long it takes. Did it cut to the end, or was that real time, start to finish? The camera blurring affect was distracting. But even in an electric toaster oven, it's would take longer than a few minutes to heat up and cook the bug to death.

In fact, a quick google search showed:

The bees vibrate their flying muscles that creates temperatures up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Within 30 minutes to one hour, the hornets are cooked to death.

MAYBE losses are minimized by the hornet being surrounded by dead bees and can't get to the live ones. Which would also act as an insulator which probably lends to the 30-60 minute cook time.