Nature rocks!

[Fox_Paws]

In this thread, yabob mentioned the Vespa mandarinia, a type of wasp, with a note that “you DO NOT want to get stung” by one. Being the inquisitive type, I Googled for more information, and I found this:

The Japanese giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia japonica, preys on other species of bees and wasps. When a solitary hunter finds a nest, it marks it with a secretion from its van der Vecht gland. Other hornets in the area congregate to the area, and they begin a mass attack on the colony. While they are efficient at wiping out hives of the introduced European honeybee Apis mellifera (they are killed at rates as high as 40 per minute), the native Japanese honeybee, Apis cerana japonica, has an interesting defense against the predatory hornet! The Japanese honeybees can detect the hornet’s secretion, and attack incoming hornets en masse. With approximately 500 honeybees surrounding the hornet in a tight ball, the temperature within the cluster rises to 47º C (117º F), which is above the upper lethal limit range of 44-46 degrees for the hornet. This temperature is too high for the hornet, which quickly expires, but does not harm the honeybees.This temperature does not aversely affect the honeybees because their upper lethal limit is slightly higher, 48-50 degrees.

THAT IS SO COOL! Nature will never cease to amaze me.

[lieu]

*At 46 to 48
Who do we asphyxiate?

The Hornets!*
Go swarm!

[Finagle]

Great. Now I have an image in my mind of a big-ass wasp backing up and saying “Now bee cool, bee cool, y’all.” in a 1970’s blaxploitation sort of voice. And that’s just wrong for wasps.