Man 'tames killer Japanese hornet' and now keeps it on a bit of string to take it wherever he goes ... or is it an internet sting?
- Twitter user from Tokyo claims he caught the killer insect with a butterfly net
- He says he then used tweezers to remove its stinger and venom sacks
- But other Twitter users claim the hornet is, in fact, dead
A man in Japan claims he has made a pet of what is reputed to be the world's most aggressive insect, the lethal Japanese giant hornet.
The 2in-long insects - which can fly at up to 25 mph - are feared for their powerful, poisonous stings that claim about 40 lives in Japan every summer.
The high death rate makes them the second most lethal animal in Japan, after man.
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Yeah right: A man in Japan claims he has made a pet of a lethal Japanese giant hornet
Just like any other pet: Twitter user Mikuru625 claims he removed the hornet's sting and poison sacks
Walkies: The hornet is here seen attached to the string harness Mikuru625 says he uses to stop it flying away
But one social network user in Tokyo, the Japanese capital, claims to have tamed a hornet to the extent that he now even takes it on 'walkies' in its own string harness.
Large and very aggressive, Japanese giant hornets have quarter-inch-long stingers that inject a venom which attacks the nervous system and damages tissues of its victims.
The stings can trigger anaphylactic shock in victims who are allergic to the venom and, if the dose is sufficient, can cause lethal renal failure even to those who are not allergic.
Twitter user Mikuru625 claims to have captured hornet with a butterfly net and then held it with tweezers while he removed its sting and poison sacs.
After that, he put a string lead around its thorax, and now the harmless hornet goes everywhere with him.
'He does bite occasionally but it doesn't really hurt,' said its owner.
Status update: Large and very aggressive, Japanese giant hornets have quarter-inch-long stingers that inject a venom which attacks the nervous system and damages tissues of its victims.
Deadly: A sting from a Japanese giant hornet can trigger anaphylactic shock in victims who are allergic to the venom and, if the dose is sufficient, can cause lethal renal failure even to those who are not allergic
He's not going to be stinging anybody: The claims have been met with scepticism online
But the carefully posed photographs have begun to bug other Twitter users who think the whole thing might be a cunning online sting.
'These hornets are the nastiest, most aggressive insects in the world. Even without a sting they'd try to bite you to death. There's no way they could be pets,' said one.
And one blogger added: 'I can't help having a sneaking suspicion that the hornet might actually be dead.'
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