The bees have a significantly higher tolerance to heat than wasps and hornets, so they can survive the "cooking", and the hornet will not (or it will be weak enough for the bees to kill).
They raise the temperature by piling up on the wasps/hornets and vibrating really fast. Since most insects do not have any direct way of maintaining a stable temperature, the hornet/wasp overheats very fast.
Unfortunately, this technique only really works on single scouts, but not against swarms. The hornets are big and strong enough to kill dozens of bees per soldier, and while a bee can only sting once, the hornets can do it as much as they please and rely on their strong jaws to mangle the bees.
So this technique only works for preventing the hornet hive from finding out the location of a beehive, but not as a sustainable defence.
mikolajwisal on May 5th, 2020 at 00:38 UTC »
For anyone wondering:
The bees have a significantly higher tolerance to heat than wasps and hornets, so they can survive the "cooking", and the hornet will not (or it will be weak enough for the bees to kill).
They raise the temperature by piling up on the wasps/hornets and vibrating really fast. Since most insects do not have any direct way of maintaining a stable temperature, the hornet/wasp overheats very fast.
Unfortunately, this technique only really works on single scouts, but not against swarms. The hornets are big and strong enough to kill dozens of bees per soldier, and while a bee can only sting once, the hornets can do it as much as they please and rely on their strong jaws to mangle the bees.
So this technique only works for preventing the hornet hive from finding out the location of a beehive, but not as a sustainable defence.
KrazyAntix on May 5th, 2020 at 01:09 UTC »
Go Bees!
gnarleybates on May 5th, 2020 at 01:14 UTC »
I guess I’m just going to carry around one of those tennis racket shaped bug zappers from now on.