Bees Scream When Murder Hornet Cousins Attack

  • 4 months ago
Asian honey bees rally against giant hornet invasions with an acoustic response that resembles the alarm shrieks of birds, primates and other social mammals.
Transcript
00:00 [HORNETS BLEATING]
00:05 When giant cousins of murder hornets attack Asian honeybees,
00:09 the bees raise an alarm similar to the panicked calls
00:12 of birds and mammals.
00:14 Giant hornets are a sister species
00:17 to so-called murder hornets.
00:19 They're one of the deadliest predators of Asian honeybees,
00:22 attacking in groups until they overwhelm a colony.
00:25 Scientists recently recorded and analyzed
00:27 alarm sounds made by honeybees during hornet attacks.
00:30 [HORNETS BLEATING]
00:40 They found that when a giant hornet shows up,
00:43 the bees made a lot more noise.
00:44 [HORNETS BLEATING]
01:09 [HORNETS BLEATING]
01:16 Giant hornets are the biggest threat to Asian honeybees.
01:19 Just one attack can wipe out an entire colony.
01:23 This could explain why bees have evolved
01:25 to have a special signal for a giant hornet attack.
01:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:33 [HORNETS BLEATING]
01:36 (wind whooshing)
01:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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