Originally, I heard about this species from a Japanese friend of mine. While he was talking about his home town, he mentioned that the scariest things in Japan were the Japanese hornets, because there massive size and aggression. Later on while reading about them, I realized how horrifying these insects are. These hornets are known as the largest in the entire world, and as displayed in the picture above will eat other bees. When learning about the struggle of Japanese bee farmers, I read that while although European bees are more efficient for making honey, they have no natural against these hornets. If a single hornet finds a bee nest, they will send pheromones that attract the hive. To reference how effective these insects are, 30 hornets could destroy 30,000 bees in less than 4 hours. Now it is just crazy how effective these hornets are at killing things. They are almost like super bugs! However, Japanese bees have developed a peculiar method to stopping them. If spotted, an array of bees will completely cover the hornet and vibrate, melting the hornet from the inside. Now how these bugs are able to do that are beyond me, and it just shows the complexity of nature

Japanese hornets are very aggressive and deadly by nature. They will often attack if provoked and have venom that attacks the nervous system. This makes being stung by a person very painful and can often lead to hospitalization. Asian Japanese hornets are known to kill around 40 people every year! At least in the United States, an average of one person dies from a shark attack every other year. It is mind boggling that an insect can be far more deadly than a shark.

Learning about Japanese hornets makes me far more hesitant to go to Japan. However, It is fascinating to observe the differences between different species of the same genus. While although American's have their own hornet, it is very different from one's in Japan. It makes me wonder what the common ancestor was for these two species, and how did they evolve to become so different. How did the environment in Japan warrant a much more aggressive type of insect than in America?