Hornet death squads menace France
The French honey industry is under threat from hordes of bee-massacring oriental hornets, the Daily Telegraph reports. The forests of Aquitaine, in south-west France, now play host to swarms of the the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, which is believed to have arrived there "from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in …
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Who's been stockpiling hornets then?
It's a "horde" when it's lots of people. Hoard when it's sequestered assets.
Chemistry Lesson
One odd bit of trivia I remember:
Bee stings are acid. Wasp stings are alkaline.
So, if you ever get stung by a bee, don't panic: just try to get stung in the same place by a wasp. The acid and alkali should annihilate one another, leaving you right as rain.
30 hornets Vs 30,000 bees
http://educatedearth.net/video.php?id=2728&vo=51
A rather unsettling video of hornets vs european honey bees. If only our bees could learn the "death ball of bees" trick the asian honey bees evolved (search wikipedia for asian giant hornet).
Bee/Wasp urban myth
It's not the acidity or alkalinity of a bee/wasp sting that does the damage but the chemicals themselves in the venom that cause pain and inflammation. Odds are if you were stung in exactly the same place by a bee and then a wasp you'd just be twice as hurt. And twice as unlucky.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apitoxin
Argh
Oh christ, I'm terrified of Bee's as it is - now there's hoards of giant killer bee's heading my way =(
Onions!
An onion is a fantastic antidote to wasp stings - no idea if it works on bee stings though having read the other posts?
In the warm months, we always carry one in the glove box with a sharp knife. Just cut it in half and apply to the sting - pain subsides within a minute or two.
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