This streaming video of what happens when 30 hornets find a bee colony is just, well, cool. Put this in IMAX, please.
BTW- Loved the helicoptor sound effects- would it have been too over the top to have the Ride of the Valkyries playing in the background, ala Apocalypse Now?
slickdpdx
Cool link, but I couldn’t take watching the bee massacre. Thanks for ruining my day!
Dior
very cool, it reminds me of the Movie The Hellstrom Chronicles.
Mike S
Cool, but creepy.
On a different note. Is there anyway I can change the backround here. It’s so bright that I find my eyes losing focus.
Mr Furious
Yikes. That is nuts.
Anderson
As if I didn’t hate/fear wasps and hornet enough already. Brrrr.
The Commenter
This is, if I remember correctly, taken from a PBS (or maybe National Geographic?) on giant Japanese hornets.
European honeybees have no natural defense against the hornets and will be massacred, as in this video.
Japanese honeybees, however, have a defense. When a hornet scout discovers a honeybee hive, the bees allow the hornet to enter deeper and deeper into the hive. The hornet keeps coming to mark the hive with its scent. Eventually, when it is deep enough into the hive, all of the bees pounce on the hornet at once.
They don’t sting the hornet. Instead, they vibrate, raising the temperature of the mass of bees. The bees can withstand temperatures a few degrees higher than the hornet – so they cook the hornet to death. Eventually the hornet dies and the bees go about their business.
Joel
very cool, it reminds me of the Movie The Hellstrom Chronicles.
Posted by Dior at June 16, 2005 11:11 AM
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the clip. I’m still not sure what to make of that movie…
AzureLupine
This wouldn’t have happened if the bees had 2nd Amendment protection!
Tim Keating
It’s fine, the bees were in a PVS anyway.
Carrie
That was SOOO wierd!