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A giant enemy approaches...
murder hornet versus honeybee.
Can this cruel fight still take a turn?
The bees have an extraordinary defense ready for their adversaries?
All over the world, bees pollinate plants,
just like here on the Korean Peninsula,
These Asian honeybees have made their home in this hollow tree.
The colony is enormous - 30,000 individuals strong.
A complex and cooperative society in which each bee has its duties.
Cleaning, foraging and caring for the larvae are just some of the chores.
From time to time, they vibrate to create the perfect temperature
for their precious larvae.
Thousands of bees work in perfect harmony until a deadly enemy approaches.
An Asian giant hornet.
It's five times bigger than any bee and able to kill with a single bite.
Hornets often raid colonies of other insects for their juicy larvae.
But this one isn't here to attack.
It's a scout.
Once it has all the information it needs, it takes off and returns to its own colony
Using an advanced form of chemical communication.
it shares the exact location of the hive with its gang...
and leads them back to the bees.
But they're already expected.
The bees build a line of defense at the entrance to their hive.
They need to protect what's inside.
The hornets arrive.
Their goal is the protein-rich larvae.
At first, they look for a way into the tree's interior.
The bees shake their bodies in unison to scare the hornets away,
but the hornets don't stop.
They keep searching for ways to break into the hive.
Just a few hornets can exterminate an entire colony of bees in a few hours.
First, they tackle the guards.
Individual bees stand no chance against the hornets,
the bees' stingers can't pierce their strong chitin armor.
The hornet's stinger is about 6 millimeters long,
4.5 millimeters longer than the honeybees',
and their enormous mandibles can kill with a single bite.
They cut through the bees’ chitinous skin with ease.
The bees are picked off one by one.
It's a massacre.
But this fight isn't over yet.
A handful of guards start a counterattack.
The Hornets start to retreat with their spoils of war.
This allows the bees to unleash their secret weapon on the last remaining enemy.
They attacked the hornet all at once,
clinging onto it, halting its movements.
Once the hornet is completely covered in bees, they start to vibrate,
raising the temperature at the center of the swarm
to a level the hornets can't withstand.
Inside the ball of bees, the temperature rises to 47°C.
The hornet is cooked alive.
A lot of bees have lost their lives today,
but the colony endures, as does most of the next generation.
What incredible and brave little creatures,
there's always something new to learn, not only from nature, but the whole world.
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