Japanese Honey Bees Do It Together

At the risk of seeming like I'm on an insect fix, I want to share with you the story of the Japanese honey bee and the hornet.
In Japan there are native honey bees and imported European honey bees. There are also hornets that like to kill entire bee colonies. The largest hornets in the world, in fact.
If the hornets (Vespa mandarinia) descend on a European honey bee colony, they will lay it to waste. But if they attack a colony of Japanese honey bees (Apis cerana japonica), they will use a unique adaptation to protect the colony.
Watch this to learn more



It seems the Japanese honey bees can survive temperatures a few degrees higher than the hornet, and use this to their advantage.