These giants hornets could destroy the honeybee population

U.S. honeybees "have zero defense" against the invasive Asian Giant Hornets, which have now been spotted in Washington state. Some people are calling them "murder hornets."

Video Transcript

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SVEN-ERIK SPICHIGER: This isn't the actual specimen, but you can see it's kind of a formidable beast. And then you put it side by side with the queen, and you can see that the queen is just overwhelmingly huge, and it's an eye opener.

Well, the real danger, besides human health, is to the apiary industry. So the honeybees that we run here in the United States are of the species Apis mellifera, and they have zero defense against this particular pest. And what's really unfortunate is that only a few Asian giant hornets, once they locate a colony, can kill a very healthy hive-- with no losses to the hornets, mind you-- in just a few hours, and that can be devastating.