It was an ordinary day. Reading an online story about honey bees when up popped a story titled "1st 'murder hornet's nest found in US." Scientists have discovered the first nest of what have been called murder hornets in the state of Washington.
The Asian Murder Hornet |
Getting ready to vacuum the hornets |
85 Asian giant hornets were vacuumed into a special container from the nest and another 13 were captured in a net. Entomologists will now try to determine if the nest had begun to produce new queens. More traps will be set through November in hopes of catching any more of the Asian giant hornets. The first confirmed detection of the hornet in the U.S. was back in December of 2019. Since that time about two dozen of the hornets had been trapped, but the discovery of the latest nest was a big help in the fight to eradicate the hornet. The insect is usually found in China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and other Asian countries. They recently arrived in North America, being found in Canadian British Columbia and then the state of Washington. The trapping and eradication of the nest in Washington State was a big deal, but they are still looking for more. They are trying to protect devastating attacks on honeybees, which are already under siege from problems like mites, diseases, pesticides and loss of food. Here's hoping we can stop the spred of the Asian giant hornets before they get a foothold in the United States. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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