Thread by @ranthonylemke

Japanese #Murderhornets decimate a bee hive of 30 000 bees in about four hours - leaving piles of heads behind as they return the thoraxes to feed their colony.

Jeez...

Makes you wonder though — how the heck are there any bees left in Japan then???

Read on...

1/n

First, here’s how #murderhornets operate: they send out scouts to find yummy honey bee hives.

When a scout finds a hive, he marks it with pheromones for the rest of his buddies to find. Then a whole swarm descends on the hive and it’s lights out for the bees.

Dire, but—

2/n

—that’s the story for the unwitting European honey bee (imported because they are more productive). #MurderHornets eat these suckers for lunch.

Turns out that native Japanese honey bees meet a very different fate vs the murder hornet.

3/n

When a dastardly murder hornet approaches a hive of Japanese honey bees to release his pheromones, the Japanese bee workers retreat back to the hive, leaving an opening to allow the hornet scout to enter... welcome to the hive neighbour!

4/n

The honey bees then form a humming and grumpy cloud formation some 500 strong in a tight ball around the hornet scout — the bees wings vibrating like mad.

All this muscle exertion generates a lot of heat and their wings direct the heat into the centre of the ball.

5/n

In the centre of the ball, the temperature hits over 45C/110F. Pretty hot for the scout, but he’s still doing alright.

But bees activity also produces a high concentration of CO2 in the heart of their buzzing ball where the scout is trapped.

6/n

The scout’s ability to withstand heat decreases as CO2 levels increase...

Thus our hornet scout meets his (timely) demise.

And back at the #MurderHornets’ lair, everyone keeps checking their phones for a DM that never comes.

7/end