2020. The year in modern history when humanity faced great challenges, yet came together and made
sacrifices to overcome and...WAIT. NO. NOPE. NEVER MIND. MURDER HORNETS! That’s right, just when you
thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse, we get murder hornets. These giant wasps from Asia have made
their way to North America and entomologists are up in arms over how to protect us and our
bees. So, let’s dive in on today’s Nutty History, Murder Hornets. Whether you love hearing about
murder wasps murdering or want to know how to buy a tiger, Nutty History is bringing you all
the crazy facts. So if you want to keep getting the latest buzz and love our content, hit like,
subscribe and leave a comment below. Now, murder hornets sound nasty and they are nasty. It’s the
rare case where the bark is just as bad as the bite! Murder hornets have one of the most painful
stings on earth. They kill nearly 50 people a year in their native Japan, and they prey on honey
bees. Our bees pollinate a third of U.S. crops, a hugely important part of the food supply chain
that contributes an estimated $15 billion in value to the agriculture industry. Bees are also used by
environmental scientists as an indicator for how human activity affects the environment. They have
already faced years of declining populations, with pesticides and climate change cited as
possible causes. Oh, and our European honey bees have exactly zero defenses against the murder
hornets! These things are just like something out of a real life horror movie. Take a look at
the injuries suffered by some of their victims. The venom in their stingers kills the skin cells
around the penetration point leaving deep holes in the victims skin. These look more like bullet
holes that stings. You just got shot up by the murder hornets. Murder hornets are the world’s
largest species of wasp. Their scientific name is Vespa Mandarinia, not to be confused with Vespa
Scooter. Murder hornets are also known as Asian giant hornet, Japanese giant hornets,
Suzumebachi (meaning the sparrow wasp in Japanese) and even Yak Killer Hornets, because they hate the
song Yakkety Sax. But no matter what they’re called, they’re always bad news. They are not
called Murder Hornets for no reason, or because they just have a bad PR team. These little nasties
are lethal. In Japan where they originate, they reportedly kill up to 50 people a year. And for
people that are stung in no lethal manner, the pain from a murder hornet’s sting is the worst
of all bees and wasps. While murder hornets look scary as heck, are super aggressive toward anyone
coming near their hive and are responsible for plenty of human deaths, the biggest concern raised
by their sudden appearance in North America is for our local bee population. Murder hornets get their
name for how they murder and devour other insects, especially bees. Murder hornets use their large,
sharp mandibles or claws or grabber thingies to wrap around a bee’s throat and decapitate
it! Once the murder hornet pops the poor little bee’s head clean off of its body,
it chews and mashes the muscular portions of the bee’s thorax into ‘meatball’ and flies it back
to the nest to feed it to the larvae. So, their super aggressive nature combined with a horribly
painful sting added to killing a high number of humans for an insect plus the whole decapitating
bees and chewing their bodies into a ball thing... they could have wound up with way worse names than
murder hornets. On 8 December, 2019, a resident of Blaine, Washington reported finding a large,
dead hornet on his property. The Washington State Department of Agriculture identified this
specimen as Vespa larvae, a murder hornet, and the National Identification Services confirmed
the ID this year. Now that the hornet has been confirmed, we’re hearing about it’s presence.
This is the first time a murder hornet has been identified in the United States, but not the
first time one has appeared in North America. In September 2019, in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island,
British Columbia, a whole nest was discovered. The reason murder hornets worry North American
entomologists and bee keepers so much is because our bees are helpless against them. Other types
of wasp usually hunt alone, but murder hornets will actually organzine mass attacks against bee
hives. They recognize the value of teamwork. This is called a slaughter. During a slaughter event,
hornets quickly kill thousands of honey bees. One hornet will find a honey bee hive and secrete
a hormone with its back legs signaling other hornets to attack. And then, one hornet can kill
300 honey bees in an hour. In fact, one hornet can kill one bee every 14 seconds. Ugh. This
sounds like the honey bee equivalent of the beginning of Saving Private Ryan.
Murder hornets don’t just go after bees. These predators gorge themselves on other insects as
well, such as praying mantises. And that’s how Insect MMA became the most popular sport
during the 2020 quarantine. Why are entomologists racing against the clock to learn how widespread
the invaders are and to isolate and destroy the invasive populations before the hornets become
so numerous that they settle in for good? What’s the big deal? Well for one, bees are critical to
our food supply and pollinate 1 in 3 items we eat. And also... no one knows how they got here. They
may have stowed away in international shipping containers, or been smuggled over as food or
medicine, there’s theories out there. But no one is sure. And another cause for concern is... the
pacific northwest where they were found is the exact, perfect climate for them! They are native
to Asia and appear in China, India, Bhutan, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia,
Taiwan, and Thailand. So, if you’re planning your murder wasp tour, there’s your itinerary.
The murder hornets generally make their homes in underground tunnels, much like C.H.U.D.S.
Now there are a lot of people that say C.H.U.D.S aren’t real, and that there’s no such thing as
Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. Well, with the way 2020 has been going so far, I’m not
going to take any chances. So as I was saying, murder hornets make their homes underground,
usually taking advantage of tunnels already built by snakes, various rodents, or C.H.U.D.s. Nests
consist of cells, interlocking chambers for larval development, and are constructed from chewed bits
of wood fibers harvested from living trees or decaying wood. The average colony will produce
about 212 males and 205 new queens. Those queens will try to go on and make their very own nests.
So you see, once they dig in somewhere, it’s hard to get them out. Now let’s talk about those
stingers. And I don’t mean the stinger splash. A murder hornet’s stinger is about a quarter of
an inch long. When engaged, the stinger injects a complex enzyme mixture that destroys tissue.
That is similar to other wasps. But due to its size it can kill the skin and leave a deep hole
around the sting. What is unique in their sting is a neurotoxin that shuts down the nervous system.
And unlike bees, wasps can use their stingers multiple times, latching onto a person and
stinging again and again. One sting is enough to send an allergic person into anaphylactic
shock. For a nonallergic person, anything over ten stings should be considered a medical emergency.
As we talked about earlier, the sting of a murder hornet is one of the worst imaginable. Masato Ono,
an entomologist at Tamagawa University near Tokyo, told National Geographic in 2002 about his
experience being stung and described it as “like a hot nail through my leg” and that was one sting.
Another sting victim, YouTube star Coyote Peterson of the Brave Wilderness channel (go YouTube
stars!) allowed a murder hornet to sting him back in 2018. In his description of the sting "It feels
like a red hot fire poker that's been sitting in the embers and it's been shoved into your arm,
and you can't remove it and that pain doesn't just hit you for a couple of seconds and go away,
it actually escalates." Wow. So now that you’ve heard how it feels the last thing you want to
do is get stung. No one wants to wind up like Nicolas Cage in Wicker Man. Maybe no one wants
to end up like Nic Cage period. So what do you do if you’re attacked? Everyone reacts differently
to stings and people can become allergic at any time, so there’s no set answers. This is one of
the most venomous insects in the world. In past, murder hornet related deaths, the average number
of stings for a fatality was about 59. If you stumble on an angry nest of thousands of hornets
each capable of multiple stings, 59 is a scary low number. The best protection you can have
against murder hornets is to stay away from their nests. If you do accidentally disturb a nest and
you run they will chase you. And they will chase you for a long time. If you can’t outrun them,
unfortunately, the best strategy is to crouch and cover your head and try not to move. These attacks
are gruesome, painful, and sad. And of course since these things are capable of killing you,
there are some people out there that want to eat them! Hachinoko, or wasp larvae,
is a snack in central Japan’s Nagano and Gifu prefectures. Regional restaurants serve it up
on more traditional menus and some stores even selling the larvae in a can. You can definitely
find this treat every November 3 in the village of Kushihara in Gifu. That’s the day of Hebo Matsuri,
an annual festival devoted to all things wasp related. The wasp treats include the traditional
hachinoko gohan, a preparation of larvae with steamed rice. The most popular offering is gohei
mochi, consisting of grilled sticky rice coated in a blend of soy sauce, sugar, ground peanuts,
and crushed wasp larvae. The savory, sweet, and smoky snack is served on a skewer. The
murder hornets' bodies are light and crunchy, and "leave a warming, tingling sensation when
eaten. So what are the chances we start eating them here in the US if they arrive en masse? Well,
some people already are. The edible insect ambassadors at Brooklyn Bugs have shown
several pretty fancy ways to prepare the pests. So have at it everyone. Enjoy those murder hornet
nachos! There’s no denying that somehow someway murder hornets have made it to the shores of
North America. Now we have to deal with it. And in case all of us working together to eat all of them
doesn’t work, we need to come up with a plan. Remember it’s not just about us getting stung,
it’s the bee population we need to worry about. We depend on our bees to pollinate our food supply,
and they’re defenseless against these invaders. The Japanese Honey Bee has been dealing with the
murder hornet now for several generations and has actually adapted a way to defend themselves. Katy
Prudic, an associate professor in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at
the University of Arizona explains "Japanese honeybees have evolved an ambush defense against
these hornets. When a hornet scout finds a honeybee hive, the honeybees lure her in,
then collectively pounce on the hornet, beating their wings as much as they can. This flurry
attack raises the temperature around the hornet, eventually killing her and a few
of the honeybees closest to her. The hive will remain undiscovered to the hornet colony and
live to see another day." So to put it plainly, the Japanese bees, swarm it and COOK IT ALIVE! In
the fight between murder hornets and cook things alive bees, who truly wins? I guess the bees,
right? But these Japanese bees have had years to evolve this defense mechanism. There’s no telling
whether or not our European honey bees would be able to adapt this technique before they are wiped
out completely. US lawmakers are already working to create funding to deal with the possible
hornet invasion as well. A coordinated government effort, combined with adapting defenses from bees,
and a few of us developing a taste for murder hornet corn dogs may be just enough to keep
these stingers at bay. If you’re feeling buzzed go ahead and subscribe to this channel. Might
as well like this video too. Because if you don’t it’ll sting. See you next time on Nutty History!