Japanese hornet footage

Trace

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Wimp.com I saw the footage on National Geographic Explorer around Halloween last year but this is the first I have seen it on the internet.
 

Dark

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WOW That was Huge BAttle it seems amazing that only 3 of them take down hundreds of bees. I just have to get one of those :drool:

Eric
 
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Tony

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Does this particular clip show what Japanese honey bees do to those Hornets? The European bees tactics pale...When a scout finds the Japanese bees, they swarm the hornet and cover it in a giant 'bee ball' raising it's temp to a lethal level, which I guess is like 3 degrees BELOW the bee's lethal temp. That way the scout never gets back to report on the location of the hive
T
 

Black Hawk

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i've already heard of these bad boys but hadn't seen video, they're HUGE wasps. very cool movie :drool:
 

DR zuum

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tony said:
Does this particular clip show what Japanese honey bees do to those Hornets? The European bees tactics pale...When a scout finds the Japanese bees, they swarm the hornet and cover it in a giant 'bee ball' raising it's temp to a lethal level, which I guess is like 3 degrees BELOW the bee's lethal temp. That way the scout never gets back to report on the location of the hive
T
I was wondering that too,seems tactics win the battle, i have witnessed red wasps and yellowjackets and hornets down south doing the same thing.Seems bees are a target for all these social wasps,but the honeybees either killed the scout,or set up partnerships with bumblebees the big black kind that bore into wood they served as,for lack of better term mercenary forces for hire.Guess american honeybees have developed tactics and associations the japanese counterparts have yet to do.

 

Tony

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Sorry Dr..In the video imported Euro bees get their clocks cleaned by japanese hornets...On TV they showed that japanese bees of course have developed a defense against thier island bretheren
Tony
 

DR zuum

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tony said:
Sorry Dr..In the video imported Euro bees get their clocks cleaned by japanese hornets...On TV they showed that japanese bees of course have developed a defense against thier island bretheren
Tony
So the bees in the video were euros from europe or the us?OK i misunderstood that they were imports.But down in mississippi the bees have definitely developed a counter ive seen that.Bumblebees drilled thier holes right by the honeybee hive and busted ass on any wasps that came near.And i've seen that swarming technique on the wasp that was mentioned.
 
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vespa_bicolor

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Big black bees that drill holes sound more like carpenter bees (Xylocopa sp.) ! That would make sense then; the males are highly territorial.
 

galeogirl

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I saw the Geo special on these wasps. Fantastic insects! The ones in the video footage seriously wiped out the bees, it was brutal.
 

Malkavian

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Havent we seen this before? No matter though, I happened to be looking for it to show someone :D amazing footage. I saw one of these hornets on my back window in western NC a while back...
 

Trace

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You saw a giant Japanese hornet in NC? That sucks for NC.
 

Lorgakor

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Just how big are those hornets? I found that really sad!
 

Scythemantis

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One would be an amazing pet, though short-lived and highly illegal (these things kill humans!) ...unless you kept, I dunno, a sterilized queen or something (has that ever been done? I know it's possible, though I imagine some species might die without a colony no matter how hard you take care of them, wouldn't they?)
 
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vespa_bicolor

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I have, on two occasions, kept a queen and a worker of Vespa ducalis, which is a similar species to the Japanese giant hornet and almost the same size. Wonderful pets. The worker, surprisingly, stayed alive with me for around 5 months! She was quite well trained too; since the enclosure was small and sparse, I let her out for daily flights every morning and at the end, she would fly back into the enclosure herself. Don't ask me how I trained her, I've no idea myself. {D

The queen stayed with me even longer, almost seven months. Actually it doesn't matter if they are mated or not, it is almost impossible for a queen of any large hornet species to build a nest in artificial surroundings.

The one in the photo was the worker.
 
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