Yes I know its the Daily Fail, but its in other papers too..............giant hornets...........

bertie

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442384/Swarms-deadly-hornets-kill-42-people-injure-1-600-China.html

for real ??

VimFuego

I guess it's for real, but when I hear the phrase giant hornets, I want them to be proper big, like big enough to ride round on. Not 3" long or whatever.

Bellycaster

Blimey, you could sling a saddle on those.

littlegreenman

They're one Chinese import I don't want, no matter how fuckin' cheap they are!

Bucket

I'm buying a gun. Right fucking now.

Fretwired

This is old news. They are only 50mm long .. a little bit bigger than a wasp. The sting is 6mm long similar to a UK wasp or bee. They don't attack humans unless they feel threatened so they are not much of a threat. Bees have also developed a defence.

Sporky

Surely 50mm is double the length of a UK wasp, and thus eight times the volume?

Bellycaster

Fretwired;49792" said:

This is old news. They are only 50mm long .. a little bit bigger than a wasp. The sting is 6mm long similar to a UK wasp or bee. They don't attack humans unless they feel threatened so they are not much of a threat. Bees have also developed a defence.

@Fretwired

What's that crawling up your Back?

;-)

littlegreenman

6 legs, the ability of flight, and a built-in weapon = no-no-no-no-no!!!!

No!

And just in case I was being too subtle, NO!!!!



So all I need to do is swing my abdomen and raise my body temp high enough to kill them? Bet I'd get stung a bit in the process. I say kill 'em all!

Deadman

bertie said:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442384/Swarms-deadly-hornets-kill-42-people-injure-1-600-China.html

for real ??

Yes. For real. I don't see the problem? They'll fucking kill you if the circumstances are right.

Myranda

Sporky said:

Surely 50mm is double the length of a UK wasp, and thus eight times the volume?

Now I noticed the "up to 5cm" thing...

But looking at the top photo, unless that person has teeny tiny hands those monsters must be bigger.

On the plus side they're far far away for now! Yay!

viz

"Groups of Asian hornets hover in front of a beehive, picking off single honeybees, decapitating them and stripping off their wings and legs before making off with the 'meat ball' to feed their young." Nice.

mike_l

Bucket said:

I'm buying a gun. Right fucking now.

Surely insect repellent would be better..... B-)

viz

He means to deprive the bastards from takin' him down themselves.

octatonic

Are these Japanese hornets? If so then this isn't news, or at least isn't new- they have been around for ages. They do kill a few people, around 30-40 a year, out of 1.3 billion. China has 68000 fatal road accidents per year, just for comparison.

VimFuego

but how many are caused by giant hornets?

mike_l

VimFuego said:

but how many are caused by giant hornets?

67,988

mike_l

viz said:

He means to deprive the bastards from takin' him down themselves.

Surely he can deprive them by not going to China

viz

But the gun he has in mind is only sold in China.

mike_l

viz said:

But the gun he has in mind is only sold in China.

Well he should get one that available elsewhere then.

stickyfiddle

The Oatmeal covered it nicely for me: 

http://s3.amazonaws.com/theoatmeal-img/comics/running/running2_26agony.png