Hornets From Hell

Japanese giant hornets have large yellow heads, enormous eyes, and they eat bees. “Eat” is too polite. They grab European honeybees, rip off their heads, tear off limbs, throw those parts away and take the big, juicy middle piece (the thorax) back to their kids (the larvae). They are unstoppable. A single hornet, you are about to learn, can kill 40 European honeybees a minute.

European bees, being new to Japan (brought in by cultivators), have evolved no defenses. They haven’t had time. But there’s a second group of bees — the locals, the Japanesehoneybees — who have found a way. It’s precise, orchestral and deadly.

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