Honey Bee Masacre.

[Georynn]

An epic battle... Honey bees being slaughtered by Japanese Giant Hornets... they fight to the last bee standing... commendable little bees..

30 Japanese Hornets Battle 30,000 Bees. EPIC MUSIC - YouTube

[bassteban]

That was the BEST war movie I've seen in a long time

[Sinomis666]

Whoa graphic!

[jrthebassguy]

I'm not sure I understand the "backstory" behind this. Was this a natural occurrence that they just happened to be around to film, or completely set up for our viewing entertainment? If the latter, that seems slightly cruel.

[PSPookie]

They look like yellow jackets to me. Just sayin'.



Sting 'em!

[kanonfodr]

Wow, that was the best combination of WWII aerial battle and 300 I have ever seen. But those Hornets were ruthless, even attack the unborn bees at the end.

Peace,
Greg

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Those bee's need to learn to do what the Asian Bee does:

Japanese Giant Hornet Scout Killed by Asian Bees - YouTube

[Ripper]

Seen that floating around, but just now watched it. Never fully realized how much hornets scare the **** out of me.

[groooooove]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Those bee's need to learn to do what the Asian Bee does:

Japanese Giant Hornet Scout Killed by Asian Bees - YouTube

thats wild.

[bassteban]

Originally Posted by kanonfodr

those Hornets were ruthless, even attack the unborn bees at the end.

It seemed to me they were eating them...

[hrodbert696]

Man I'm going to have nightmares now.

Objectively, the weird thing to me is that in the first video, the bees seemed like they fought the hornets one by one, and got slaughtered. In the second one, they all swarmed all over the hornet and seemed to kill it pretty easily. Why didn't the bees in the first hive swarm?

The other thing I can't figure out is why the hornets would systematically kill 30,000 bees. Surely they can't eat that many, which seemed to be why they were attacking. I always thought that predators kill so they can eat, eat till they're full, and leave the rest of the prey alone so they have more to eat later. Any entomologists to explain this stuff to me?

[jmattbassplaya]

I know those hornets eat other insects, and I believe, in the case of the video, they were after the honey bees larvae for a food source.

[MatticusMania]

Beads?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by hrodbert696

Man I'm going to have nightmares now.

Objectively, the weird thing to me is that in the first video, the bees seemed like they fought the hornets one by one, and got slaughtered. In the second one, they all swarmed all over the hornet and seemed to kill it pretty easily. Why didn't the bees in the first hive swarm?

The other thing I can't figure out is why the hornets would systematically kill 30,000 bees. Surely they can't eat that many, which seemed to be why they were attacking. I always thought that predators kill so they can eat, eat till they're full, and leave the rest of the prey alone so they have more to eat later. Any entomologists to explain this stuff to me?

Different species of Bee, I believe. I think the Asian bee is the only one which responds like that. Oddly enough, it's apparently the heat produced by all the bees that kill the hornet, not stinging

[Bett]

The bees in the first video are European honeybees, Apis mellifera. The European bees tend to make more honey than Japanese honeybees (A. cerana japonica), so beekeepers often like to keep the European ones instead. However, they have no natural defense against the giant hornets. The Japanese honeybees produce less honey overall, but since they've lived in the same area as the hornets for thousands of years they've evolved a way to kill off the attackers. The European bees just don't know what to do other than sting, so they're easy targets for the hornets.
Hope that helps

[hrodbert696]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Different species of Bee, I believe. I think the Asian bee is the only one which responds like that. Oddly enough, it's apparently the heat produced by all the bees that kill the hornet, not stinging

Originally Posted by Bett

The bees in the first video are European honeybees, Apis mellifera. The European bees tend to make more honey than Japanese honeybees (A. cerana japonica), so beekeepers often like to keep the European ones instead. However, they have no natural defense against the giant hornets. The Japanese honeybees produce less honey overall, but since they've lived in the same area as the hornets for thousands of years they've evolved a way to kill off the attackers. The European bees just don't know what to do other than sting, so they're easy targets for the hornets.
Hope that helps

ahhh fascinating. Thanks!

[Tupac]

NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEEEES! I've seen that video posted many times recently on another forum I go to. I'm very squimish with bugs, could I watch this? I tried watching the first 5 seconds, but freaked and closed the tab because of how insanely more disgusting the sidebar was. Watching a giant slug eat something? NOPE *close*

[P. Aaron]

I like honeybees. Honeybees make sweet goodness. Hornets are bad! Bad hornets!

[SoonerMatt]

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

Beads?

BEES!

[Hollow Man]

Wow, that was surprisingly intense, with excellent footage. And the music did rock! Those hornets were performing some pretty amazing aerial maneuvers with the honeybees clinging onto them.