# Video: 30 wasps kill 30,000 honeybees. Very cool.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 16, 2004, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634 "2004-06-16T12:19:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/41 "2004-06-16T23:50:33Z")
Oop, my header was _supposed_ to read, “The ground was thick with severed bee-heads,” but I guess it got bit off by a hornet . . .
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### Author:  [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/42 "2004-06-17T00:30:59Z")
Well, I only got audio, with a black screen. It _sounded_ dramatic.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/43 "2004-06-17T00:50:02Z")
> [@Baldwin](#):
>
> Well, I only got audio, with a black screen. It sounded dramatic.
Same here. Is there a way to download the file (which I think is m01\_hi.asx) so I can try using another viewer?
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/44 "2004-06-17T01:41:40Z")
Finally watched it.
Now I feel bugs crawling all over me.
I hate those things.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/45 "2004-06-17T02:01:09Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> The calf-stumbling-into-the-fire-ant-mound-video is worse.
Cite?
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/46 "2004-06-17T02:03:15Z")
Or rather… “Site”?
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### Author:  [@Shaolinrabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaolinrabbit)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/47 "2004-06-17T02:49:24Z")
I hadn’t noticed it before, but in the video, with the innate fuzzyness of their little bodies, the bees look sort of like flying teddy bears.
“CARE BEAR STARE! CARE BEAR ST- Oh, Jesus! Where’s Cheer Bear’s head?!”
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### Author:  [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/48 "2004-06-17T02:49:49Z")
> [@niblet\_head](#):
>
> I have a stupid question.
>
> Are hornets and wasps the same thing?
No. Wasps (around here) have more black and they are lanky bastards. Long skinny wings and legs.
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### Author:  [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/49 "2004-06-17T03:00:05Z")
Woah. :eek:
\*\*Baldwin \*\* and **Johnny L.A**., if you go to the link on the left side that says “back”, it will take you to a page where you can view it in RealPlayer (I had the same problem, but saw it on the RP dialup connection).
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/50 "2004-06-17T03:21:06Z")
> [@SlickRoenick](#):
>
> No. Wasps (around here) have more black and they are lanky bastards. Long skinny wings and legs.
I believe the “true hornets” are a separate group from bees and wasps (and possibly exclusively Old World, but not sure), but in the States, some critters called “hornets” are actually members of the wasp family, most closely related to yellow jackets. I think the ones in the video were “true hornets.”
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/51 "2004-06-17T03:28:59Z")
**brachyrhynchos** : Too choppy – even the audio. Streaming video is just useless on a dial-up connection. ☹
If there’s no download, I guess I’ll just have to happen upon it on The National Geographic Channel.
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### Author:  [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/52 "2004-06-17T04:25:44Z")
For anyone having problems with the streaming presentation, here’s a downloadable version of the video:
[http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~chriseng/m01\_hi.wmv](http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~chriseng/m01_hi.wmv) (17 MB)
From the backstory, we learn:[ul][li]These are Japanese giant hornets. (Uh, does anyone get visions of atomic radiation, Godzilla, and…???)[/li][li]They are the largest hornets in the world.[/li][li]They have no qualms about attacking other hornets as well.[/li]They kill dozens of _people_ a year.[/ul]Yikes.
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### Author:  [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/53 "2004-06-17T04:28:13Z")
Sorry, backstory URL:
[http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/magazine/pursuit/200301/html/f\_article.html](http://www.olympus.co.jp/en/magazine/pursuit/200301/html/f_article.html)
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### Author:  [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/54 "2004-06-17T04:44:32Z")
Yeesh. I couldn’t watch after the first thirty seconds. I’m practically crying now. Horrid fucking wasps.
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### Author:  [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/55 "2004-06-17T06:53:39Z")
I think they needed to rein in the sound guy a bit. It would’ve been a lot cooler if they’d used real bee noises instead of all the crunching and screaming. All that was missing were explosions and cartoon _booooiiiiingg_ sounds.
I bet they had shot footage of the honeybees lining up all _Braveheart_ style ready to fight one last battle to save their home, and had to be forcibly restrained from editing it in.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/56 "2004-06-17T07:05:10Z")
Did anyone else think that the bees studied at the James Bond villain school, where you learn to attack your enemy one at a time instead of en masse?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/57 "2004-06-17T13:02:49Z")
Thanks for the link, **Earthling**! 🙂
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/58 "2004-06-17T15:10:13Z")
I just read some more from that link and apparently, the wasps were only ‘liberating’ the hive from the evil queen-bee, then they plan on turning soveriegnty back over to the freedom-loving bees around the end of the month. As soon as the honey-pipelines are repaired.
sorry… someone was going to say it sooner or later.
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/59 "2004-06-17T21:11:42Z")
[QUOTE=Earthling]
[li]They kill dozens of _people_ a year.[/list]Yikes.[/li][/QUOTE]
Hopefully not by biting their heads off!!! :eek:
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-30-wasps-kill-30-000-honeybees-very-cool/250634/60 "2004-06-19T06:32:33Z")
I think the big problem is the bees are just sitting there twiddling their palps, going “BZZZZ, BZZZZ, BZZZ, stay away!” If they had ganged up on the hornets, instead of just sitting there like, well, sitting ducks, the hive might have stood a chance. Some of them obviously did, because the narrator mentioned that they took a few hornets with them–just not enough.
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