Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Weather bees


Two alarming weather related stories today. First we have the alarming news that Asian hornets have arrived in the UK, previously it was thought too cold for them here but apparently no one told the hornets. This rather scary looking predator has a penchant for decapitating honey bees, and poor old European bees haven't yet evolved any natural defense against these killers. Japanese bees have learned to swarm onto attacking hornets, vibrating their bodies against them, causing an overheat. Even so, a swarm of hornets can pretty much wipe out a bee colony by sheer blunt force of size and power.

Secondly we have the even more alarming fact that August 2016 was the hottest (on average) August any human currently alive has ever lived through. The question is, are invasive species (like Asian hornets) linked to the average temperature? You betcha.

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