Bees have top combat skills in fight against Asian hornets – but are losing war

Bumblebees are striking back in the fight against Asian hornets.

The furry critters have top-tier combat skills when targeted by the invasive stingers, reveals new research. Buff-tailed bumblebees drop to the ground when hornets attack – carrying the pests down with them, according to the findings.

Hornets lose their grip as they drop, or the bee raises its sting and fights until the hornet gives up. “Stunned” scientists at University of Exeter witnessed 120 attacks that took the same course, with the bee triumphing each time.

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However, despite the bees fighting power, their colonies were growing slowly in areas filled with Asian hornets. This suggests the hornets are damaging the bees, even if most of their attacks at the colony gates fail.

The pests have already invaded large portions of mainland Europe and parts of east Asia and have for the first time been spotted in the US. Sightings in the UK and mainland Europe are at an all-time high this year as people are fighting back, fearing for pollinators such as bees.

Dr Thomas O’Shea-Wheller at the University of Exeter, said: “Asian hornets prey on a wide range of insects, including honey bees, but little is known about their impact on other pollinators. With honey bees, the hornets do something called ‘hawking’ – hovering outside the bees’ nest and attacking returning foragers as they fly past.

“We recorded hornets doing the same thing to bumblebees, but with the surprising difference that in our observations, they were entirely unsuccessful.”

For the study, bee colonies were weighed every two days to measure their growth. They grew at a slower pace when there were high numbers of Asian hornets around. Dr O-Shea-Wheller said: “We can’t say for certain why this is.

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“It’s possible that some external factor is good for Asian hornets, allowing them to thrive, but bad for bumblebees. However, it’s perhaps more likely that the presence of Asian hornets limits the success of bumblebee colonies.

“Although the attacks we witnessed at colony entrances were unsuccessful, bumblebees have been reported in the diet of Asian hornets and the hornets are known to prey on them elsewhere.

"Furthermore, defending against such attacks is likely energetically costly – and when hornet abundance is high, this could be a major problem for bees out foraging."

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