The World's Biggest Wasp | Bite, Sting, Kill

[music playing] NARRATOR: In the lowland forests of Asia, there's an insect with a frightening reputation, the biggest wasp on the planet, the giant hornet. About as big as a matchbox, and one of the most venomous insects in the world, this massive hornet can kill with its sting. A quarter-inch long stinger injects a complex enzyme mixture that destroys tissue. This is similar to other wasps, but unique to the giant hornet is a neurotoxin that shuts down the nervous system. In a human, an allergic reaction can cause anaphylaxis shock and kill. A giant hornet colony lives for only six months of the year, but during that time they kill an average of 40 people. They live throughout much of Asia, from India to Japan. Like most wasps, giant hornets are intensely predatory, gorging themselves on other insects, like this praying mantis. [music playing] A worker hornet chops up her prey with powerful mandibles, but she doesn't kill to satiate her own appetite. She chewed up her catch into a gooey substance and then brings the meal back to the hive to feed hundreds of voracious young. During the summer, the giant hornets constantly seek out food. This scout discovers a large honeybee hive and marks it with a pheromone secreted from glands in its back legs. It's a signal to attack. The pheromone attracts other giant hornets to the hive, where they begin their assault. But their success doesn't depend on their numbers. Just one of these hornets can kill over 300 honeybees in an hour. The honeybees instinctively defend their hive, but they are no match against a giant five times their size. Within hours, the small troupe of giant wasps slaughters almost 30,000 bees, decimating the entire colony. The wasps return to their hive with their spoils, valuable protein for the next generation of these killer insects.

Channel: Nat Geo WILD

Views: 2,593,860

Rating: 4.8263016 out of 5

Keywords: nat geo wild, national geographic, wild, wildlife, animals, nat geo, natgeo, science, discover, nature, documentary, Bite, Sting, Kill, venom, venomous, hornet video, wasp, insect, animal, animal facts, animal traits, animal behavior, Asia, giant hornet, neurotoxin, colony, prey, predator, predation, The Biggest Wasp, on the Planet, PLNxd9fYeqXeYQaV1z9-tWQXJBeq_s8hX9, Worlds Biggest Wasp, giant hornet gorges, insects, kill a human, PLNxd9fYeqXeYBFDysqCJCL-wZdeihbFTu

Id: w7zWGOGjLxs

Length: 3min 51sec (231 seconds)

Published: Fri May 26 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/gannisinu]

They need to put that wasp in jail.

[u/Mesozoica89]

The shot of it snipping that bee in half! Damn!

[u/bluelouie]

@3:05 When that bee gets his body straight ripped in half in front of his other bee homies and them all beeing like’ “NO FRANK, noooo!”

Savage

[u/chive__turkey]

Yeah, that wasp is a DICK.

Even all the other wasps think so.

[u/jordanl09]

I’m staying the fuck out of Asia, then.

[u/wanman321]

I say we weaponise them