My Least Favorite Insect Murders Your Family
Asian Giant Hornet
The world's largest hornet.
I am deathly afraid of hornets, wasps, and bees. I'm not kidding. Apiphobia; bee phobia. I know enough about bees to try to rationalize my irrational fear. I know that the common type will not sting me to death unprovoked. Though, that does not help my unreasonable fear of these insects. The buzzing, colors, and the sight of them circling over head is enough to make me take cover as if someone were chucking grenades.
Perhaps the ultimate test would be to come face to face with this giant hornet, but I doubt I would remember the experience, as I would pass out immediately on the sight of one of these behemoths. I would most definitely and undoubtedly die. From fear.
Here are a few facts of these flying demons.
They can reach lengths of 2-3 inches. The mandible of these insects are incredibly large and easily bite their prey in half.
The stinger alone is a quarter of an inch long. The Japanese Giant Hornet can inject a very dangerous venom that is a mixture of many different chemicals. Essentially, the venom causes tissue damage and even can dissolve said affected area. Oh, and another chemical that summons more giant hornets.
Happily, there is little to fear about their stingers. These giant hornets typically rely on their enormous jaws to crush their prey. It's a lot faster to bite your enemies in half than wait for them to flail around dying from lethal injection.
Many perfumes will simulate the pheromones that summon more of these death incarnates with wings and even encourage them to swarm and attack the area. Do not apply any sensual liquids before a brisk hike.
They can fly up to 60 miles in a day and reach speeds up to 25 mph. Needless to say, there is no outrunning these buggers and I would recommend a simple forced blow to the head via a nearby tree to render yourself unconscious to escape the pain from a very brutal death.
While not unique to this species alone, the adult hornets cannot digest solid protein. So, the adults chew their kills into a paste which is then fed to their larvae. The larvae then produce a type of liquid that the adults eat.
In the video below, you will see a pack of giant hornets annihilate 30,000 honey bees. 30 against 30,000. All of this death to chew up the honey bees larvae to feed their own larvae which in turn feeds themselves. The greater good, right?
