Who are hornets and why are they dangerous to spread around the world?

Hornets are considered the largest wasps in the world. They actively exterminate garden pests such as flies and ticks, which is why they are under strict protection in many EU countries. But in Asian countries, hornets of the Vespa mandarinia species live, which are not particularly useful and can even seriously interfere with the difficult work of beekeepers. Moreover, their bites are very dangerous for humans - their victims describe it as a "hot nail wound." In May 2020, American beekeeper Ted McFall discovered that almost all of the bees in his apiary were dead. They were killed by the aforementioned wasps from Asian countries, which suggests that these insects began to spread throughout the world. Scientists interested in this issue conducted a study and found out after what time these creatures will reach all corners of our planet.

Asian bumblebees are the largest in the world

Where do hornets live?

The results of the scientific work were published inScience Daily magazine. Vespa mandarinia giant hornets are predominantly found in China, Japan and Korea. Sometimes they were also noticed in Russia - for example, in the Primorsky Territory and in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory. The body length of these insects reaches 5 centimeters, and the wingspan is most often 7.5 centimeters. Their 6mm stingers contain a very strong poison, so they are rightfully considered the most dangerous wasps. While most of their relatives exterminate agricultural pests, these creatures exterminate entire swarms of bees. Because of their attacks, many Asian beekeepers suffer and recently this problem has overtaken the residents of the United States.

In the USA, bees died en masse and hornets are to blame for this

At the moment, huge hornets have been seenonly in Washington state. But scientists are confident that in the future they may appear in Africa, Australia, Europe and several other parts of our planet. As part of the scientific work, researcher Gengping Zhu and his colleagues found out in what conditions these creatures like to live. It turned out that hornets feel best in places with warm summers, mild winters and a lot of rainfall. If the air temperature in summer does not exceed 38 degrees Celsius, it means that huge creatures can easily settle in this place.

Hornets are deadly to humans

Having studied the abilities of huge hornets, scientistsfound out that they can fly about 110 kilometers in a year. If not monitored and prevented from spreading, they can spread throughout various American states in about 20 years. Then they can move to other countries. Considering that at the moment, due to global warming, the air temperature rises even in relatively cold places like Russia, in the future they will clearly have a place to live. Although in the interior of the United States, they are unlikely to get along, because it is hot there even now.

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The danger of hornets

Scientists announced that they would take action againstthe spread of dangerous hornets is needed right now. If this is not done, beekeepers can suffer terrible losses and honey becomes a scarce commodity. But bees are beneficial not only through the production of honey. They play an important role in the coffee industry, the textile industry, the global economy and even transportation. It may be hard to believe, but it really is. Read this material and see for yourself.

In general, bees are our friends

But giant hornets are not particularly useful. If they spread all over the world, not only bees, but also people will be in danger. These creatures produce a very strong poison that is injected into the bodies of the victims using a large 6 mm sting. Once a huge hornet stung the Japanese insect researcher Masato Ono, and the scientist described the bite as a "hot nail wound." The substances contained in the poison can attract the attention of other hornets, so that they can attack in whole groups. In this case, people are unlikely to have a chance of survival. Unlike bees, hornets can use the sting multiple times.

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The author wrote more about Asian hornetsHi-News.ru Nikolay Khizhnyak. In his material, he explained in detail where they live and what exactly their stings are dangerous for. He also touched upon a very interesting topic of protection against hornet bites and told what to do if this happened. All in all, this is a great article that everyone should read!