Image courtesy Washington Department of Agriculture via Twitter
2020 has been quite a year already, but a few months ago nature decided to throw another curveball and add invasive Asian giant hornets - AKA Murder Hornets - to the proverbial Bingo card.
Although we first heard about the hornets arriving in North America back in the winter of 2019, it has taken scientists some time to come up with strategies for how to locate and destroy the nests. Why all of the destruction, you ask? As it turns out, Asian giant hornets can be absolutely devastating for a honeybee colony, wiping out thousands of bees in the span of only a few hours.
Considering all of the threats that honeybee populations already face, it seems like a good idea to head this one off at the pass and deal with this invasive species swiftly and aggressively. That said, here's the good news: Entomologists in Washington destroyed the first nest of Asian giant hornets discovered in the U.S. just this past weekend.
Researchers located the nest by trapping a few live specimens and outfitting them with a radio tracker using, of all things, dental floss. Clad head to toe in protective gear (the Asian giant hornet's sting is said to feel like "red-hot thumbtacks" stabbing into you), the team worked to vacuum the hornets out of the tree and into canisters.
Image courtesy Washington Department of Agriculture via Twitter
The basket-ball sized nest was inside of a tree on private property, which the agriculture team has cut down in order to search for any newborn hornets and to see if any young queens might have already left the hive to start their own colonies.
Asian giant hornets are the largest known hornet on earth, with queens able to reach over 2-inches in size. Primarily, the insects survive on tree sap, but they also consume other colony-living insects like honey bees. The hornets actually decapitate their prey, and it only takes a small group of them to murder an entire hive of bees in a matter of hours.
Scientists suspect that there may be more nests in the area and are working to locate and destroy them before the hornets reach their "slaughter phase" and go looking for any innocent beehives.
Although most stinging insects set me into a panic (and these might straight up give me a heart attack), I love honey bees and am happy to see them protected. I find entomology fascinating, so following this entire saga has actually been a little bit fun, especially since it seems to be moving toward a happy ending for the bees.
Have you been following the murder hornet saga? Share your thoughts with me.