News & Views

What’s the best way to ward off giant hornets if you’re a honeybee? Animal dung is the surprising answer, as revealed by a new study by scientists from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Researchers have discovered honeybees in Vietnam which collect and apply spots of animal dung around hive entrances to deter deadly nest raids by Asian hornets (Vespa soror). This remarkable discovery is also the first to document the use of tools by honeybees.

A serious threat

Another member of this Asian group has become known as the “murder hornet”. An invasive species in North America that came originally from Asia, these giant hornets (V. mandarinia) are almost as long as a golf tee and pack about seven times as much venom in a single sting as an ordinary honeybee. They were discovered during 2019 in British Columbia and Washington State. The arrival of this venomous insect to North America has raised concerns about human safety as well as the threat posed to local honeybees and ecosystems.

Other Asian hornets have also been spreading across Europe too, with the first example being recorded during 2016 in the UK. A pioneering approach to controlling them has been to attach tiny radio tags to individual hornets raiding bee hives, so they can be traced back to their nests, which can then be destroyed.