"This August Washington state, the Department of Agriculture found a Murder hornet nest. We might see more coming in early Spring." -- Poppy zaiger, 6th grade
2020 is a year everyone wants to forget and remember at the same time. But, there was one particular part of the 2020 dumpster fire that was really overlooked and that was Murder Hornets. They were invasive species that came from Japan and nobody really knew how they got to the US, but some speculate that the wasps moved from Canada to America. Since Canada had their own hornet infestation, it does not seem so far fetched.
There has been some speculation the Murder Hornets would come back to kill beehives but nobody knew until August 11 in Washington they found a Murder Hornet hive that had hornets inside. This was backed up by many articles about the Murder Hornets and their return. This is the third hornet nest to be recorded in the US.
The Murder Hornet (or the Asian Giant Hornets) are responsible for 50 deaths in Japan every year. One sting can’t kill a human but their stings are very painful and you don’t want the hornet to sting you. But don’t worry! There have been zero deaths recorded in the US. These giant hornets can kill a whole beehive by decapitating the bees and it is taking a toll on the bee population. The hornets then go back to the hive with food for the larvae. This is very creepy in more ways than one.
There are a lot of facts about Asian Giant Hornets!
The USDA is trying to find more hornet nests and they have been telling us more information about the crisis. They are racing against the time to eradicate the hornets and save the bee population!
Sights I used to find my info: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-washington.html https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031653521/washington
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/us/murder-hornet-nest/index.html https://www.usda.gov/
There has been some speculation the Murder Hornets would come back to kill beehives but nobody knew until August 11 in Washington they found a Murder Hornet hive that had hornets inside. This was backed up by many articles about the Murder Hornets and their return. This is the third hornet nest to be recorded in the US.
The Murder Hornet (or the Asian Giant Hornets) are responsible for 50 deaths in Japan every year. One sting can’t kill a human but their stings are very painful and you don’t want the hornet to sting you. But don’t worry! There have been zero deaths recorded in the US. These giant hornets can kill a whole beehive by decapitating the bees and it is taking a toll on the bee population. The hornets then go back to the hive with food for the larvae. This is very creepy in more ways than one.
There are a lot of facts about Asian Giant Hornets!
- The average population of a murder hornet nest is 100-700 hornets.
- They were called Hurder Hornets for killing both people and bees.
- Murder hornets are the largest hornets at 2 inches!
- the reason why the Murder Hornets kill bees is for their larvae to feed to the young hornets. (Which I find kind of gross).
- Their stingers can puncture a beekeeping suit.
The USDA is trying to find more hornet nests and they have been telling us more information about the crisis. They are racing against the time to eradicate the hornets and save the bee population!
Sights I used to find my info: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/us/asian-giant-hornet-washington.html https://www.npr.org/2021/08/27/1031653521/washington
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/12/us/murder-hornet-nest/index.html https://www.usda.gov/
