Remember a few years back when everyone was talking about the Asian hornet? Well, they're still around, and they're all over mainland Europe. Some worry they'll rid the land of other pollinators, but there's one pollinator in particular that just ain't having it: The Bumblebee.
Yes, the buff-tailed bumblebee is a flippin' warrior out there, and this technique they're using is straight out of Joe Rogan's MMA Handbook.
Let's look first at the Asian hornet's technique:
"With honey bees, the hornets do something called ‘hawking' — hovering outside the bees' nest and attacking returning foragers as they fly past," said Dr. Thomas O'Shea-Wheller at the University of Exeter.
"(But) we recorded hornets doing the same thing to bumblebees, but with the surprising difference that in our observations, they were entirely unsuccessful."
Okay, now the memories are coming back. The Asian hornet is a mean son of a gun, and it's either eating up all the nectar (which other bees need) or actively hunting those same bees, along with pollinators such as butterflies, as food.
And here's how the Buff-tailed bumblebee is fighting off the Asian hornet when they come in for the kill:
Bumblebees have top-tier combat skills when targeted by Asian hornets, reveals new research.
Buff-tailed bumblebees drop to the ground when hornets attack — carrying the pests down with them, according to the findings.
Hornets lose their grip as they drop, or the bee raises its sting and fights until the hornet gives up.
"Stunned" scientists at University of Exeter witnessed 120 attacks that took the same course, with the bee triumphing each time.
Now, I don't have video of one of these attacks, but I assume it's really cool. I do have this video of a bumblebee versus an Asian hornet, so why don't we go ahead and give it a look, even though it's not as cool as watching the bumblebee take the dive midair.
Let's just pretend the bumblebee won in a TKO just to be fun...
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