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Remember the murder hornets? Back in May 2020, when the reality of what would turn out to be a yearlong quarantine was just beginning to set in, a news story broke of yet another plague menacing our shores. Murder hornets, enormous predatory insects with deadly stings and a penchant for beheading entire hives of bees, had been sighted in Washington state, prompting a statewide search and eradication effort that lasted the whole summer.
With dwindling honeybee populations already a worry amongst entomologists, botanists, beekeepers, and farmers alike, the advent of the Asian giant hornet, dramatically dubbed murder hornet in the press, could spell death to a native American insect species already near the tipping point. (Our bees don t have the defense mechanism against giant hornets that Asian honeybees do: When one is spotted near a hive, the bees glom onto its body in clumps 20 or 40 strong and beat their wings to generate heat, cooking the hornet to death.) Compo
Attack of the Murder Hornets: Discovery’s New Doc Showcases Real Life Horror Story Believe the hype! Murder hornets are here, but can we find them in time to save the bees?
Jolie Lash | March 4, 2021 - 9:00 am
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CREDIT: Courtesy of Discovery
It’s hard to overstate just how big the problem of the unexpected second villain of our global annus horribilis – the “murder hornet” –
could be.
Its body is the size of a bloated cheese-puff, its wingspan as wide as your palm. These rusty-orange-colored insects aren’t just the largest hornets in the world, they are apex predator wasps that made their presence known in late 2019 in Washington State after decimating (by decapitating) a defenseless colony of beekeeper Ted McFall’s western honeybees – 60,000 of them.
Pop Life: Attack of the Murder Hornets with Michael Paul Stephenson waer.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from waer.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Exclusive Interview: Michael Paul Stephenson on His New Discovery Channel Doc ATTACK OF THE MURDER HORNETS dreadcentral.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dreadcentral.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.