This is what they need to show in science class to get young males interested in school again. De-pussify the curriculum a bit.

Those hornets are impressive and gorgeous animals. And as a commie, I believe that we could learn a lot from the social insects.

I wonder how long the native honeybees had to live alongside the giant hornets in order to evolve their defensive tactic.
Also I see in the wikipedia article that about 70 people die every year in Japan as a result of being stung by the hornets. That's pretty lethal!

Get 'em little honeybees get 'em.
:-D
(video of Japanese honey bees engaging in their defensive strategy against Giant hornets.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=d...feature=related

I wonder how long the native honeybees had to live alongside the giant hornets in order to evolve their defensive tactic.

Probably as long as the giant hornets have lived alongside bee species whose nests they could raid. Adaptation works both ways - the hornets didn't become murderously efficient bee-killing machines overnight.

I suspect that the hornet's lower heat tolerance is a function of their size, and that no easily-accessible mutation can eliminate their relative vulnerability. Curious. Why did they grow so large in the first place? Size seems to be a real drawback for insects - is it that much of a predator advantage for them?

Thanks for the cool videos.

Score another one for East Asian collectivism over European individualism.

This is what they need to show in science class to get young males interested in school again. De-pussify the curriculum a bit.

right, this is the inverse of make-computers-appealing-to-women by making them pink and "relevant."

Score another one for East Asian collectivism over European individualism.

careful now. remember when some pc fool managed to somehow anthropomorphize racially the differences between 'docile' european bee and the 'agressive' african one.

careful now. remember when some pc fool managed to somehow anthropomorphize racially the differences between 'docile' european bee and the 'agressive' african one.

Great idea! Death match! Japan's Giant Hornets vs. Africa's Killer Bees!

Probably not a lot to be learned, but it would make a cool video, no?