To Bee, or Not To Bee

There is a new specie of the honeybee spotted in France: The Asian Hornet. It accidently arrived from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese plant pots in late 2004. The Asian hornets are attacking the other honeybees with groups from five to fifty hornets together. This is an evolved way of defending; they form a ball of worker bees around the intruders and killing them by “asphyxia-balling” in effect, by heatstroke. Last summer there were several attacks on people reported from the department of Lot-et-Garonne. Now British experts fear the insects could arrive in Britain either by crossing the Channel or being accidentally imported.

This ‘Asian’ hornet sounds a bit strange to me; they form groups to kill the intruders. I have never seen a group of hornets who are attacking another insect. The British people might have fear for the Asian hornets –which I can understand – because there are people who are allergic to honeybees and hornets. When the Asian hornets are attacking one of the people who are allergic to them, they could make this person very ill. On the other hand, I think there must be something to kill these hornets. Just like the ‘normal’ hornets and honeybees; fill a bottle with some lemonade and put it somewhere far away from you or you just hit them with an electric whisk.

Click HERE for the article.

It is looking very scary from this close!

Edit: 16-04-2010