Wondering just how big the invasive Asian giant hornet is compared to a honeybee, bumblebee or paper wasp? The state Department of Agriculture has released a chart to help you.
“We’ve had lots of questions about how Asian giant hornets compare in size to other similar-looking insects. Check out our new to-scale size comparison to see,” the agency posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday, April 29.
In December 2019, the state department received and verified four reports of Asian giant hornets near Blaine and Bellingham. They were the first sightings of the hornets in Washington state and the U.S.
Members of the Mt. Baker Beekeepers Association have put up traps and are monitoring them as part of the state’s efforts to find and kill the invasive pests so they don’t reproduce and becoming established in Washington.
Photo from NYT; I think the article says this is a dead hornet that was placed on the guy's jacket to show how large they are.
I sure wouldn't be smiling if that thing were alive....
-------------------------------- “It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
Posts: 13890 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005
I can't remember if it was linked in that article or I read it somewhere else, but an article on them linked to a YouTube video of some (incredibly crazy) guy receiving a sting from one. He held it with tweezers and pushed it into his arm to get it to sting him. First of all, the thing is just huge, and second of all it swelled up the size of Texas in a horrifyingly short time.
Originally posted by Piano*Dad: We have a short window to find and exterminate.
Sounds like we need a Dalek.
quote:
I wonder how they got here. Hard to imagine a big Divine Wind from Japan blew them here.
I am pretty sure Bellingham isn't a commercial shipping port anymore, but Vancouver BC (Tsawwassen) is. Insects like to hitchhike in produce and other goods that come by ship. But, I think you need a queen to establish a bee/wasp/hornet colony.
Murder hornets have been previously found around Nanaimo on Vancouver Island about 15 miles from the city of Vancouver (which is *not* on Vancouver Island).
The problem is that insects and most other animals don't respect international borders. Build a wall! And a net!
Emerald ash borers arrived from Asia in solid (untreated) wood packing crates in the Ontario and Michigan areas about 20 years ago. They have destroyed entire forests.
But remember, government isn't the solution to your problems, government *is* the problem.
