Bees Scream When Murder Hornet Cousins Attack

Live Science

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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