Its stinger is 6.25 mm or about a quarter of an inch in length.
That’s not very long considering that the Asian Giant Hornet--Vespa Mandarina and its
varieties such as the Japanese Giant Hornet--Vespa Mandarinia Japonica are the largest hornet
species in the world.
Asian Giant Hornet queens are generally around 2 inches (50 mm) or larger, while workers
and drones are between 1.6-1.8 inches (4-4.5 cm).
Their wingspan is generally around 3 inches (7.6 cm).
All of this is very interesting, but you probably don’t care since you’re howling in agony
from the sting you just received.
Is a white hot pain shooting up your arm?
That’s par for the course, Asian Giant Hornets have one of the most painful stings in the
world.
One Japanese entomologist likened the sting as to his leg being hammered with a heated
nail.
Do you feel dizzy?
Blood rushing through your ears?
No, don’t roll around on the floor.
Panicking won’t help, it just disperses the venom through your bloodstream faster.
Sit here on the couch.
You may be experiencing mild shock.
Does your throat feel scratchy?
Is it hard to breathe?
No?
That’s really good.
If your throat is closing up and you can’t breathe, you’re allergic to the venom and
going into anaphylactic shock.
We’d need to give you an epinephrine injection and get you to a hospital as soon as possible.
You should probably still get checked out by a doctor even if you don’t have an allergic
reaction, but it’s less urgent.
Did you know that rather than dying from the venom, the majority of deaths that occur from
Asian Giant Hornets are due to either an allergic reaction or cardiac arrest?
Don’t get me wrong, the hornet’s venom is very potent and damages the human nervous
system, in rare cases receiving many stings can kill a victim through multiple organ failure. No!
Don’t get up--stay there on the couch!
Let me get you some water.
I’ll grab a marker too so we can track how badly you’re swelling.
I need you to hold out your arm.
Hey, hey, crying is no big deal...no shame, it's a natural reaction to when we get hurt.
Deep breaths.
I’m only drawing a few dots with the marker, I promise I’ll be gentle.
A few around the puncture wound and then a few more around where the swelling is now.
Wow!
It’s been only a couple of minutes since you were stung--I can’t believe how much
that bump is swelling!
I brought an ice pack too, you can hold it on the sting area for 15 minutes, give your
arm a break for at least 5 minutes before applying the ice pack again.
That should help with the hot feeling in your arm.
Sorry about the numbness, it will go away...eventually.
Anyway, back to the pain!
There’s this crazy, but brilliant entomologist, Justin O. Schmidt who created the Schmidt
sting pain index.
Basically he went around allowing himself to be stung by various insects as a way to
categorize and compare their stings.
During his research he was stung by 78 insects.
Where does the Asian Giant Hornet rate on Schmidt’s pain scale?
Actually it doesn’t--not officially anyway.
Schmidt was never stung by a Asian Giant Hornet so he didn’t rate it.
Other people who have also gone around being stung--seriously I can’t believe what people
do for fun these days--say that the Asian Giant Hornet would be high on the Schmidt
pain index, perhaps even scoring the highest rating, a 4.
Another insect which also rated a 4 is the bullet ant which Schmidt described as ‘like
walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel.’
Then there’s the warrior wasp.
Schmidt referred to it as ‘Torture.
You are chained in the flow of an active volcano.
Why did I start this list?’
Oh--my bad, I thought hearing about the pain scale would make you understand how brave
you’re being right now...Okay, let’s talk about something else.
You actually got off quite lucky, you should be thankful that you were only stung once
by a single hornet.
Unlike a bee, an Asian Giant Hornet can sting multiple times without dying.
Also they can release a pheromone to attract other hornets.
That’s right, they call their family to come get in on the action.
Gives a new meaning to bringing the pain, eh?
Anyway I know you don’t feel lucky, but it could have been so much worse.
In 2013, in the Shaanxi province of central China, there was a high rainfall which produced
a lot of vegetation.
As a result there were also bigger than normal swarms of Giant Asian Hornets.
Over the course of the summer, the swarms killed 42 people and injured another 1,675
in 3 different cities.
Among those attacked, 206 had to receive treatment in hospitals, including dialysis to help remove
the venom/poison from their kidneys.
Some of the victims were stung upwards of 30-40 times, which means they received about
a teaspoon of venom (5 ml), experienced paralysis and organ failure.
Right, right I get it, you don’t want to hear about death or illness from hornets right
now. say hi if you see this
But you’ve made it past the crucial first 15 minutes with no severe reaction.
You’re not going to die.
Okay, okay, I’ll move on to a new topic.
I can’t believe you ran all the way back to the house after being stung.
You should never run from a swarm of Asian Giant Hornets; they’re known to chase people
up to around 600 feet (183 m) or about 1 and a half soccer fields.
Next time, if you’re not in a place where you can easily get inside, your best bet is
to stand still and let the swarm pass by.
Sure, some of them will crawl on you and you’ll probably get a few stings, but if you run
you’re likely to be stung more. subscribe to Nopun on youtube.
They can fly up to 25 miles an hour (40 km/h) and also go 60 miles (100 km) in a day.
I hear you, there isn’t going to be a next time you get stung.
Got it.
But just in case--trust me, the best thing to do is stay still until the swarm moves
on.
Okay, so you were just sitting outside quietly drinking coffee and looking at your phone
when the hornet stung you?
Bummer.
Bad luck, I guess.
While Asain Giant Hornets can be territorial and sometimes aggressive, especially during
mating season, they don’t intentionally seek humans out.
However, they can be attracted to sweet smells, alcohol, and human sweat.
Giant Asian Hornets actually tend to like rural areas such as lowland forests.
They prefer to nest in trees, or holes in the ground such as those created by tunneling
animals.
But I guess they nest under buildings and in garages too.
They build nests about the size and shape of a basketball.
And frankly, you’re looking pretty good right now.
Yeah, I know your face is swollen, but that’s probably mainly from crying.
By now the venom delivered in the sting is attacking your nervous system; it contains
a mandaratoxin.
It’s also attacking your red blood cells and tissues.
In a couple hours your puncture wound’s gonna turn black because of necrosis.
You’ll probably end up with a gnarly little scar there.
No! don’t scratch the wound!
I know it’s really itchy, but the bacteria under your fingernails just makes things worse.
We should put some antibacterial, anti-itch cream on the sting area.
Also, you can take an over the counter painkiller such as aspirin.
But scratching or squeezing the puncture site is definitely a no-no.
If you think Giant Asian Hornets are bad for humans, they are the stuff of nightmares for
honeybees.
Asian Giant Hornets eat other insects; their favorite being the honey bee.
A hornet scout will fly around and locate a honeybee hive.
Then it sprays pheromones to attract its comrades.
When a swarm of hornets shows up, the mayhem begins.
The hornets murder the honeybees using their enormous mandibles to rip off honeybee heads
and legs.
A single hornet can decimate about 20 victims a minute.
A swarm of around 30 hornets can take out a colony of 30,000 honey bees in a few hours.
The honeybees try to fight back by stinging, but their stingers can’t pierce the hornets'
hard shell.
Japanese honey bees have developed another defense against the Japanese Giant Hornet
though, the bee ball.
When a hornet scout investigates a hive, the honey bees will surround the intruder and
vibrate.
The kinetic energy generated can grow hot enough to slowly roast the hornet alive.
The heating is very precise too!
Japanese Giant Hornets can withstand heat up to 115°F (46°C) degrees.
The bee balls can reach 117°F (47.2°C), which is just shy of the 118°F (47.8°C)
the bees themselves can stand.
In case the heat doesn’t kill the hornet, at the same time the crowding bees constrict
the hornet and carbon dioxide grows inside the ball.
Hornets, in fact all insects, have an open circulatory system.
The bee crowding makes it hard for the hornet to pump blood through its body, which also
affects its ability to regulate its temperature.
If the hornet scout dies, this prevents the coordinates of the hive from getting out to
other hornets.
Sure some worker bees die from the scout attacking them or of being crushed or asphyxiated by
the bee ball, but the hive is saved.
It’s not weird that I know so much about Asain Giant Hornets; it’s taking your mind
off the pain, isn’t it?
So if Japanese Giant Hornets massacre all the worker bees in a hive, they steal the
larvae and take them back to their nest.
If they can’t move all the honey bee larvae in one trip, they’ll leave hornets behind
to guard the hive while they shuttle back and forth.
Adult workers then chew the bee larvae into a nutritious paste and feed it to hornet larvae.
The Japanese Giant hornet larvae regurgitate a concoction which contains 17 amino acids
and serves as a powerful "energy drink" to be consumed by adult hornets who cannot digest
solid protein.
This is where hornets get their strength to be able to fly up to 60 miles (100 km) a day.
As you can imagine, this macabre harvesting kills a lot of honey bees.
In a breeding season, each Asian Giant Hornet hive produces an average of 1,000 to 2,000
offspring.
Hey, when you’re feeling better we should go get some hornet based energy drinks!
After discovering the hornet’s recipe for energy, scientists began producing a synthetic
version known as VAAM or vespa amino acid mixture.
It’s used in sports drinks and as a nutritional energy supplement for athletes.
Allegedly, VAAM boosts metabolism and burns fat while providing a little extra stamina.
A few scientific studies have shown that VAAM does increase oxygen intake and burn fat in
older women.
Other studies have shown that it did better than water to increase the stamina of mice
who did swimming exercises.
However, in both studies the sample size was pretty small.
As of yet, there’s no conclusive scientific proof that VAAM infused products do any good.
However, some professional athletes swear by them, including some Japanese Olympic runners.
Currently VAAM isn’t banned by international sports’ doping rules.
Actually you can totally get revenge by eating your enemy, there are a couple of dishes that
are made with hornets.
People eat them fried as snacks--Sorry the thought of eating bugs is so weird for you;
they’re sustainable and a great source of protein.
I won’t mention the other hornet based dishes, but in case you were wondering, cooking venom
denatures it, making the hornets safe to consume.
I think your arm isn’t going to swell any further.
Yeah, I see...your whole forearm’s stiff, the puncture wound’s starting to turn purple….but
you’re looking good.
You’re breathing normally and you’re totally lucid--once again it could have been so much
worse.
It looks like you’re getting tired, so why don’t you take a nap?
Holler if you need anything, I’m going to go read up on VAAM.
I have an idea for a real money maker--VAAM infused ice cream, it boosts your metabolism
and helps you burn fat while you eat it.
Isn’t it crazy how an insect about the size of your thumb is an apex predator?
Are you interested in learning about other animals that you would prefer to stay far
away from?
Check out our video for the 10 most venomous animals here:☝ Or if you ever wondered what
the strongest animals in the world are, you’ll like this video: ☝
Bye! 😀 Stay safe!