30 Hornets vs 30,000 Honey Bees

[Krug]

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=11516

And an interesting trivia:

those were european honeybees....they don't have any natural defence against the japanese giant hornets.

the japanese honeybees, OTOH, have developed an ingenious defence against their perennial foe:

The Japanese honeybee (Apis cerana japonica) has a unique way of defeating its sympatric predator, the giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica). The Japanese honeybee is a small creature with a correspondingly small sting; as its primary means of defense cannot inflict much damage against such a large predator as the giant hornet, it requires another method of defense (Ono et al 1995). Instead of utilizing its stinger against the pack-hunting hornet, the honeybee instead waits for the predator, having earlier detected traces of its pheremonal hunting signals. As a hornet approaches the nest in an attempt to kill honeybees, a hundred or so will guard the nest entrance in an attempt to draw it on. When the hornet enters the nest, it is immediately mobbed by a clump of approximately 500 honeybees, which, surprisingly, do not sting the hornet to death as previously thought (Schmidt-Nielsen 2001). Instead, the bees heat themselves up to 47 degrees C very quickly using their flight muscles. As the hornet’s upper lethal temperature is 44-46 degrees C, it is killed quickly, effectively baked to death by the large clump of bees. The Japanese honeybee displays an amazing defensive adaptation, using its already extant endothermic qualities as an effective defense mechanism against their natural predator, the giant hornet (Ono et al 1995).

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Scenes from Alien vs. Predator came racing into my mind as I read the article. Interesting stuff.

 

[Turanil]

What must we understand with this story? That honey's price is going to inflate?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I think the point is the lesson that reverts to the old saying "survival of the fittest". These bees have the capaity to not only defend themselves from this specific 'woul-be' predator, but has the capacity to kill them outright. Fascinating indeed, as I think bees are much smaller than hornets.

 

[Turanil]

Personally I think the point of this is that a bully ceases to be a bully when people unite against him.

I saw this once in the underground. A bully attacked a guy for no reason. All people (including me, ah the shame) were too afraid to intervene. Then, an old man got "heated" by what was happeneing and went to call the police and then take care of the guy. At that point, other people around did join and helped the old man. So in the end the bully was neutralized until the police came and arrested him. I think there is a lesson here, and people should unite in mass when some bullies come and bully someone at random just because they find it fun. Alas, it's not going to be the new tendency any time soon.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I think there is a lesson here, and people should unite in mass when some bullies come and bully someone at random just because they find it fun.

I don't agree. I believe in peace and preservation. If I saw something happening or in the progress of happening I'd alert the proper authorities. I do not believe in conditioning people to be one way or another, as I see it as morally wrong. If humankind could learn to properly output their beasts within, a lot of problems could be solved.

 

[Pielorinho]

I know the lesson I've drawn from it: next time I see someone being bullied in the subway, I'm going to get everyone to surround the bully and flap their arms real fast.

Daniel

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I know the lesson I've drawn from it: next time I see someone being bullied in the subway, I'm going to get everyone to surround the bully and flap their arms real fast.

I don't think that that will accomplish anything. Instead you might want to try giving the bully whatever he wants, as it isn't worth it to lose your life over material objects. If howeve, the bully just wants to beat the crud out of you just for the fun of it, run away really fast and scream for help as loud as can as long as you can.

 

[Bront]

Mmm, Baked Hornet.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

Wow.... just wow... that was great Krug - thanks for the link

The Hoard