Subspecies of the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia). This large insect(more than four centimeters in length, wingspan more than six centimeters), although it is still slightly smaller than the Asian huge hornet. It has a huge yellow head with large eyes, a dark brown belly with brown-yellow stripes. Also, the Japanese giant hornet has three small extra eyes along with two large eyes. The subspecies is endemic and distributed only on the Japanese islands, where they can be found on trees in forested areas of the country.
The Japanese giant hornet is a large social arthropod, reaching more than 4 cm in length with a wingspan of more than 6 cm. Therefore, in Japan this animal is called “Suzumebachi” (Japanese: スズメバチ（雀蜂、胡蜂） “Sparrow-bee”).
Lifestyle of the Japanese Hornet
The female (“queen”, uterus) establishes a nest in which she lays eggs. The eggs hatch into larvae that need to be fed. Then the larvae pupate, then adult workers emerge from the pupa. This is how a colony appears, which is fed by workers (foragers).
Japanese hornets feed on a variety of foods - mainly insects, including pests Agriculture. Workers cut up the body of their victims in order to extract valuable substances and meat from the chitinous cover. The workers feed this food to the larvae.
Bee attack
The Japanese huge hornet also attacks social insects - other hornets, bees. This hornet greatly harms Japanese beekeeping, as it attacks the hives of the European honey bee, which Japanese beekeepers breed in apiaries, since European bees collect more honey than Japanese bees.
When a scout hornet finds a beehive, it leaves marks near it. Then the “scout” informs the other hornets about the find, and within a short time flies to the hive a large number of hornets and attack bees.
Within three hours, Japanese hornets can destroy an entire hive - 30 thousand bees. They then dismember the bee brood, which they feed to their larvae. Hornets also eat honey from bees' honeycombs.
The Japanese honey bee uses to protect itself from hornets. special tactics: When a scout hornet approaches their hive, a ball of about 500 bees immediately forms around the hornet. They surround the hornet in a huge ball, inside which the temperature can rise to 47 °C. Since bees are able to maintain and withstand temperatures up to 50 °C, the hornet dies.
Attack on a person by a Japanese hornet
In case of danger, hornets also attack people, for example peasants who happen to be near the nest. The attack of hornets is very dangerous: their sting is about 6.25 mm long. When it bites, it releases a highly toxic nerve venom that destroys the victim's tissue. Hornet stings are very painful, cause anaphylactic shock and require hospitalization. Mass bites are especially dangerous.
Among all Asian insects, the Vespa Mandarinia hornet is one of the most famous. This is not surprising, if only because its enormous size makes it extremely noticeable: a huge wasp with a body length of 5 cm and a wingspan of up to 6-7 cm somehow naturally attracts the attention of a tourist or traveler. It is not for nothing that in Asian countries this insect is also called the sparrow bee - for its impressive size.
However, the Asian hornet has one more popular name– it is called the tiger bee for its extremely painful stings. Among local residents, in contrast to the enthusiastic reviews of tourists, the Vespa Mandarinia hornet has rather gained a bad reputation: its bite is deadly, especially for a person with hypersensitivity to insect poisons. If several giants attack at the same time, they can easily bite or cripple almost any person to death.
Photo 1. 
Among other things, the Asian giant hornet is a threat to all honey bees, so beekeepers in Thailand, India and Japan regularly suffer serious losses from invasions of these predators.
The Vespa Mandarin hornet is one of 23 species of the hornet genus, which also includes common European relatives. The size of this insect is just a simple anatomical adaptation to a hot climate (animals large sizes tolerate high temperatures more easily because they have a larger surface area for heat transfer to environment). In addition, due to its size, this giant can count on a large number of potential victims, even those comparable in size to it. Otherwise, the huge Asian hornet is very similar to its other relatives.
Photo 2. 
As for Russians, we are mainly interested in the Vespa Mandarinia hornet as one of the dangers that can lie in wait when traveling through the exotic Asian region. Therefore, information about what the giant Asian hornet looks like, as well as how to avoid its bites, will never be superfluous.
Asian murder hornets are generally similar in body shape and general color tones to ordinary hornets: they are also yellow with black stripes. However, individual color details still distinguish them from each other.
So, if the Vespa Crabro hornet, better known as the common European hornet, has fairly thin black bands on its yellow body and a dark red head, then the Vespa Mandarinia hornet is characterized by much thicker and more expressive black stripes on its body, as well as a yellow head.
Photo 3. 
Visually, it is the light-colored head with two large eyes that most attracts attention.
And yet, the main distinguishing feature of the giant hornet, which makes it possible to distinguish this insect from other relatives, is, of course, its size. With its spread wings it almost overlaps a person’s palm, so at the first meeting it seems not quite real, but as if made deliberately unnaturally large. Such sizes help the hornet primarily to obtain food that is inaccessible to smaller relatives.
Photo 4. 
The Asian giant hornet leads the same lifestyle as all other members of the Vespa genus.
Hornets live in paper nests made from chewed pieces of young tree bark, held together by sticky salivary secretions. Generates new family the founder female, who at the beginning of the warm season simply lays several eggs in the place where the nest will later grow.
Photo 5. 
At first, the female herself obtains food for the larvae, takes care of them and looks after them. However, already a month after laying the eggs, young hornets hatch from them, which, in turn, take on all the worries of feeding new larvae and protecting the family. The uterus greatly limits its role - it continues only to lay eggs until the end of its life.
The Vespa Mandarinia hornet is not picky in its diet: the basis of its diet is a variety of insects. The huge Asian hornet will also not mind eating meat or fish washed ashore, fruits and berries. Unlike adult individuals, the larvae are fed exclusively on animal food, however, this feature is also characteristic of all other hornets of the Vespa genus.
Photo 6. 
Hornets almost never use their poisonous sting to get food. They kill other insects with powerful jaws, which literally crush the chitinous coverings of their victims.
Photo 7. 
The largest hornet in the world is distributed quite widely: it is found throughout Southeast Asia and reaches Russian Primorye, where it is quite common and numerous.
It is worth noting that the species Vespa Mandarinia is divided into several subspecies at different points in its range. So, in Japan, for example, there lives a subspecies of the Japanese huge hornet, endemic only to island territories.
Photo 8. 
In general, hornets of this species are common in different biotopes, but most of all they prefer forests and various light groves. Thus, it will not be possible to meet the Asian hornet in high mountains, steppe and desert areas.
Photo 9. 
The Asian giant hornet is very poisonous: its poison is considered one of the most toxic among all insects in general. However, due to the fact that this huge predator does not inject the entire supply of poison into the wound when biting, in general, the bite of an Asian hornet is, although extremely painful, but for a healthy person with a normally functioning immune system mortal danger has no idea.
Every year in Japan, about 40 people die from giant hornet bites. Thus, the hornets here set a kind of anti-record - no other wild animal can “boast” of such indicators.
Photo 10. 
Due to the presence of several protein toxins in the hornet's venom, its entry into soft tissues immediately activates cell lysis, which is accompanied by instant swelling and inflammation. The presence of histamine and acetylcholine in the poison - substances that ensure the occurrence of an immediate immune response and the transmission of neuromuscular reactions - causes a sharp pain effect, sometimes accompanied by a state of shock in the victim.
“After the hornet bite, I spent three weeks in the hospital. I had huge swelling all over my side and I couldn’t move my arm. The bite itself is simply monstrous - as if a drill is being drilled into the body with an ordinary drill. When the insect bit me, I barely managed to get home and lost consciousness. My wife already called the doctors. And one of my friends died a year ago from a hornet attack.”
Tai Won Xing, Girin
Photo 11. 
A quite typical response of the body to a hornet sting is considered to be extensive tissue swelling, which was already mentioned above, increased heart rate, headaches and fever.
However, in people sensitive to insect toxins, even one giant hornet sting can cause anaphylactic shock and death. If there were numerous bites, then in this case, even for a healthy person, the attack is fraught with tissue necrosis, extensive hemorrhages and damage to internal organs.
Photo 12. 
Reproduction of giant hornets
Now let's look at how procreation occurs in the Vespa Mandarinia hornet. There are several key points to highlight here.
- The giant hornet family exists for no more than one year.
- When the housing of these huge wasps grows to a decent size, and there are quite a lot of working individuals themselves, the queen begins to lay eggs, from which males and females capable of reproduction hatch.
- At a certain point, these mature individuals swarm and mate, after which the young males die, and the females look for secluded shelters and remain in them until spring.
- By the rainy season (and in the Primorye region - by winter), the old family completely dies out, since the queen stops laying new eggs.
It is worth noting that sometimes all Vespa hornets do not survive to the time of natural death, since they die from ticks or infections.
Photo 13. 
A disaster for humans or an adornment of nature?
In a global sense, giant Asian hornets are, of course, dangerous to people, but this danger is not critical, since it is entirely provoked by man himself. These insects are not very aggressive by nature; they will only attack in self-defense or protecting a nest.
Photo 14. 
Hornets cause much more damage to apiaries, especially those where less aggressive European honey bees are bred. Sometimes hornets manage to destroy an entire bee family in a few hours, and therefore local beekeepers wage an ongoing systematic fight against them.
In general, the mortality rate from giant hornet bites is quite high: in some regions, up to 100 people die per year. But in fairness, it should be said that most of the dead are the same beekeepers who, without special means of protection, actively destroy hornet nests and, as a result, fall under their massive attacks.
A simple tourist who accidentally finds himself in the forest next to the Vespa Mandarinia hornet should not be afraid of this insect - it will not attack without a reason.
Photo 15. 
In the West, many dietary supplements add synthetic substances similar to the secretion contained in developing hornet larvae. These components are believed to increase human endurance. However, there is no experimental evidence for these claims.
In conclusion, it should be noted that for wildlife, giant hornets are one of the most active natural orderlies. They successfully destroy many forest and agricultural pests, therefore, in most biocenoses - including agricultural lands - they are useful and deserve protection.
Photo 16. 
Photo 17. 
Photo 18. 
Photo 19. 
Photo 20. 
Several dozen hornets completely destroyed a bee hive
sources
http://klop911.ru/shershni-i-osy/shershni/shershen-vespa-mandarinia.html
http://www.zoopicture.ru/hornet/
http://ianimal.ru/topics/aziatskijj-gigantskijj-shershen
Here are a few more interesting insects: for example, and here. This is what will happen if, but look at what it looks like The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -In Japan and in the south of Sakhalin Island there lives a large and dangerous insect, the attack of which kills an average of 40 people every year - more than from the attacks of any other animals living in this corner of the Earth, including large predators. This is a Japanese huge hornet (Latin name - vespa mandarinia japonica).
In Japan, this hornet is called the “sparrow-bee.” It is slightly smaller in size than its close relative, the Asian one, but has a more toxic poison.
This insect reaches more than 4 cm in length, with a wingspan of over 6 cm. The organs of vision are also unusual in the structure of the insect’s body: in addition to two large standard eyes, the “sparrow-bee” has three small additional eyes.
A large head with powerful jaws and a yellow-black, wasp-like coloring add to its ferocious appearance. But the hornet’s main weapon is its sting, reaching 6.25 mm in length, with which the insect inflicts a very painful blow when attacking.
The poison that this giant wasp injects into the body of the victim has a nerve-paralytic effect, destroys tissue, and can cause cardiac arrest, pain and anaphylactic shock. The sensation of being bitten is comparable to being hit by a hot nail.
The larvae and honey also go to feed the colony, so after the attack the hive is completely empty. One Japanese hornet can destroy up to 40 bees in one minute, and a group of 30 individuals can deal with a bee colony of 30,000 individuals in three hours.
Protection in bees
However, Japanese hornets can cause obvious harm only to European subspecies of bees, which Japanese beekeepers import and breed as the most profitable and easy to keep. Japanese honeybees, over centuries of living side by side with hornets, have developed effective method combat these dangerous insects.
When several hornets fly into the hive, the bees do not attack them, but, on the contrary, freely let them in, allowing them to feast on honey and larvae for some time. Then, gradually, about 500 bees tightly surround the uninvited guest from all sides, creating a thermal “trap” for him.
In the photo, honey bees kill a hornet
Due to the work of the bees' muscles, the temperature inside the ball increases, and upon reaching 47 °C it becomes fatal for the hornet. The bees themselves are able to withstand temperatures up to 50 °C. This is how scout hornets die without having time to report the location of the hive to their relatives.
Vespa Mandarinia Japonica now
Human encounters with the Japanese hornet occur most often in the forested regions of the Japanese islands. Insects make their light gray nests in trees; you should never approach them. If people find a hive near their land, they call special teams to destroy the insects.
In recent decades, changes have been observed in the behavior and lifestyle of Japanese hornets, probably associated with climate change. So, they began to behave more aggressively: previously they attacked residents in rural areas who disturbed their hive, now there are cases of unmotivated insect attacks on people in cities.
There is no confirmed information about the expansion of the hornets’ habitat; the species still remains endemic to the Japanese Islands, outside Japan found only in the south of Sakhalin. Its close relative is widespread in Europe - the Asian huge hornet, also a dangerous and large insect.
As the name suggests, this insect lives on the Japanese islands and prefers rural areas, where it has the opportunity to find a suitable tree to create a nest. In Japan these hornets are known as U-Suzumebachi (オオスズメバチ
(大雀蜂
,
大胡蜂
), which translates to "Giant Sparrow Bee".
The Japanese giant hornet (vespa mandarinia japonica) is a subspecies of the Asian giant hornet. This is a large insect, the adult of which can exceed 4 cm in length and have a wingspan of more than 6 cm. The hornet has a large yellow head with huge eyes, a dark brown thorax, and brown and yellow stripes on the abdomen. The Japanese giant hornet has three small, simple eyes on the top of its head between two large compound eyes.
The diet of giant hornets consists of wide range insects, including crop pests, for this reason hornets are considered beneficial. Working insects dismember the bodies of their victims to obtain only the most nutrient-rich body parts and take them to the nest. There, the hornets process their prey into a special paste to feed the larvae, which in turn produce the liquid so necessary for the working hornets. This liquid, known as Vespa, consists of a mixture of amino acids, is intended only for adult insects and is a remarkable means by which they can travel up to 100 kilometers per day and reach speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour. This liquid provides the hornets with intense activity of the flight muscles for a long period, and research is currently underway to create stimulant drugs based on it to artificially increase athletic performance. In many Japanese mountain villages, fried hornets are considered a great delicacy.
Japanese beekeepers prefer European bees because they are more productive than the endemic Japanese bees. But keeping them has become quite problematic due to the fact that European bees are a favorite delicacy of Japanese giant hornets.
After the hornet has settled in a hive of European bees, it marks it with special pheromones, which attract its comrades to it; thanks to such markers, the brethren quickly find the hive. One hornet can kill forty European bees in a minute, and to deal with an entire hive containing 30,000 bees, a company of 30 hornets will need just over three hours. Hornets kill bees, dismember them, leaving their heads and limbs, and return to their nests with bee “fillets” which they feed to their larvae
Japanese endemic bees have evolved to defend themselves against giant hornet attacks. When the hornet approaches the hive to release pheromones, the worker bees fly out, form a swarm of 500 individuals, and surround the hornet, forming a tight ball around it. From the vibrating wings, the temperature inside this ball begins to rise to 47° C, creating the effect of a convection oven. The heat generated by the bees' organs spreads to the hornet, and since bees can survive in more high temperatures(48 to 50 °C) than the hornet (44 to 46 °C), the latter dies.
The Japanese huge hornet is a close relative living in our country. But despite this, the difference in appearance and size between these insects is simply enormous.
Comparing them, you can see that the Japanese hornet differs from its European counterpart in color, however, this is far from its main characteristic. Size is what this giant can “boast” of. This insect bears its name “giant Japanese hornet” for a reason: its body length can exceed 4 cm, and its wingspan can exceed 6 cm.
The photo below shows Japanese:
And this is what the common hornet (Vespa crabro) looks like, which is widespread in Russia and Europe:
Perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when you see a Japanese “monster” is how dangerous it is and how painful its bite is. Indeed, it has a very terrifying appearance, which, however, accurately reflects the seriousness of the consequences of meeting him.
Japanese hornets can indeed be very dangerous: in the country that gives these insects their name, more than 40 people die from their bites every year. All the people who have ever been stung by this hornet claim that they have never experienced a more painful bite in their lives.
On a note
Almost any encounter with a hornet, no matter what species it belongs to, is dangerous to one degree or another. It is not surprising that medical scientists and biologists are very interested in the effect of the bites of these insects on the human body. It turned out that in nature one of the strongest poisons is that of the giant Japanese hornet: even with a single bite, it can cause a powerful allergic reaction, including anaphylactic shock. In the event of a massive attack by several hornets of this species, severe hemorrhages and tissue necrosis can occur in humans.
When planning a trip to Japan, it is useful to always be prepared for a chance encounter with giant hornets and know not only what they look like, but also how to behave so that the insects do not attack.
What does a Japanese giant hornet look like?
Generally speaking, giant hornets in Japan are a subspecies of the Asian giant hornet. These insects are found only on the Japanese islands, being classic endemics.
Despite its impressive size, the giant Japanese hornet is still somewhat inferior in this regard to the mainland Scolia wasps: these insects are even larger. Scolia is considered the largest wasp in the world.
However, the Japanese hornet is not small (especially in comparison with other species) - in the photo below you can estimate its size compared to the palm of a person:
The length and wingspan of the Japanese giant hornet is its main difference from most other species of the Hornet genus. Even in comparison with those of a similar color, the Japanese giant is more striking due to the simple ratio of the dimensions of the body to the size of the flowers and branches on which it is found.
The coloring of the Japanese giant hornet is another characteristic feature of it. The insect has a black chest, a yellow head and the base of the abdomen of the same color, which is lined with transverse brown and black stripes from the middle. This pattern makes it easy to distinguish this huge wasp from the European hornets familiar to us - in the domestic species, the back half of the abdomen is uniformly yellow.
Close-up photo of a Japanese hornet:
And for an ordinary comparison:
The giant hornet has two clearly visible large eyes on the front of the head, and just above them there are three additional small appendage ocelli, providing a large viewing area (see photo).
In general, all hornets in the world - European, Japanese, and the beautiful yellow Vespa bicolor - despite some distinctive features, are equally related and belong to the family of true wasps. For this reason, their lifestyle, nutritional patterns and biological features are very similar.
On a note
Sometimes the Japanese hornet is incorrectly called the Oriental hornet. In fact, the eastern hornet (Vespa orientalis) is a separate species, widespread, for example, in the south of Europe, in the subtropical regions of Asia, as well as in North Africa, and adapted to living in dry climates. These insects nest in the ground.
Below is a photograph of an oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis):
Life of a huge wasp
As already mentioned, the Japanese giant hornet is a strict island endemic. Outside of Japan, it was found only in the south of Sakhalin. On the mainland this species is not found at all.
As for the lifestyle, the Japanese giant lives in almost all biotopes, except for the alpine belt and large cities. Where insects live, there are almost no drafts or other disturbing factors: their nests are located on branches and in hollows of trees, under the roofs of rural buildings, on rock ledges in the forest area, in rock cracks and natural niches.
The huge hornet builds dwellings that are very similar to paper wasp nests, only larger and more voluminous. This structure and location of the dwellings of these insects is characteristic of almost all other species of their relatives.
Nest in early spring built by a young overwintered female. She feeds the first larvae herself, and the working hornets that emerge from them begin to help the founding female get food and care for the brood. After a short time - as the colony grows - the queen stops doing anything other than laying eggs.
From the moment the egg is laid until the hornet emerges from the pupa, about 28-30 days pass.
If we talk about the food preferences of this insect, it is worth noting that the Japanese giant hornet, however, like all its close relatives, is a predator. The main part of its diet consists of various insects, spiders, worms, and mollusks.
However, like other wasps, the huge hornet loves honey, the juice of sweet fruits, and can also fly to the smell of meat and fish. He does not even refuse food that has begun to spoil.
Another thing is the larvae. Hornets feed their offspring exclusively with meat of the highest quality - they give them the most delicious pieces of prey.
The photo below shows Japanese hornet larvae:
The entire hornet colony develops before the swarming period, which occurs in late summer and early autumn. At this point, the eggs hatch into young males and females capable of reproducing. After swarming and mating, the males die, and the females find shelters for wintering and hide in them in order to begin life cycle again.
Thus, the entire life of hornets fits into just a short period of time - the warm season. During the winter, the nest dies out, and out of the entire family of thousands, only the females remain.
The photo shows an example of such an empty nest:
Storm of all bees
The huge hornet causes the most trouble to Japanese beekeepers. Honey bees (usually the European variety, which are more industrious and less aggressive) are a real delicacy for hornets. However, the prey is not only bees, but also the honey they produce, which the giant predator feasts on after the destruction of the hive.
This is interesting
A single giant hornet can kill up to thirty bees in a minute, and a group of 30-40 “aggressors” destroys a bee family of 20-25 thousand individuals in a few hours.
If a scout hornet finds a residential hive with bees, it leaves odorous marks near it, and upon returning to the nest, it shows its fellows the way to the delicacy. After this, the murder hornets set off as a whole squad to destroy the hive.
In fairness, it is worth noting that some species of bees, in turn, also have a unique mechanism for combating hornets. However, it gives results only with a small number of attackers. If the hornets attack in significant numbers, the bees, alas, are powerless.
So, how does the bees' defense mechanism work? The defense of the hive consists of several stages:
- at the very beginning, when the giant hornet tries to enter the hive, several bees surround it;
- then others sit on them, and this continues until a huge ball of bees, up to 30-35 cm in diameter, grows around the hornet;
- parallel to this process, all the defenders of the hive actively move their wings, directing the air inside the ball - towards the aggressor - and heating it to 46-47 ° C, which is destructive for the hornet (the bees themselves can withstand heating up to 50 ° C).
The result of all these efforts is the death of the attacking predator from overheating within about one hour.
Despite this seemingly effective mechanism, bees are not able to cope with an entire squad of winged killers. That is why the Japanese huge hornet is considered to be the cause of serious losses for beekeeping farms in this country. Owners and workers of apiaries are doing their best to destroy hornet nests near the locations of honey beehives.
However, the struggle of beekeepers against an enemy insect often ends in loss: a huge hornet, due to its size, can fly away in search of food up to 10 km from its nest, and pursue the victim itself up to 5 km. Therefore, despite all human efforts, destroying the nests of a giant predator often does not produce significant results in protecting apiaries.
How poisonous is the huge hornet?
The Japanese giant hornet is one of the most poisonous among its relatives. And the point here is not only in the toxicity and specificity of the poison, but in the amount of it that the insect can “reward” its victim: one portion of toxins in the huge Japanese hornet is almost one and a half times more than in its ordinary European counterpart.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that, despite all its poisonousness, the huge hornet hunts mainly with the help of its jaws. The sting and poison are used only when fighting the largest and most dangerous victims, when the giant is “unsure” of his strength, or when he is defending himself.
Interestingly, an ordinary honey bee, when biting, injects significantly more poison into the wound than even a hornet. At the same time, she often leaves her sting at the site of the bite, connected to a special reservoir of poison, the muscles of which for a long time are still continuing to decline. The hornet never leaves its sting in the wound (its sting is not jagged, unlike the sting of a bee).
The photo below shows a bee sting:
This is what a hornet's sting looks like:
The sting of a huge Japanese hornet is truly amazingly painful. It is felt immediately as soon as the giant inserts the sting under the skin. Usually, within a few seconds after this, swelling, severe throbbing pain and inflammation appear at the site of the bite.
After about half an hour, more distinct and serious symptoms of poisoning develop - dizziness, rapid heartbeat, and a sharp increase in body temperature. That is why the stung person needs careful observation - in some cases, these manifestations of allergies can almost instantly develop into a threat to life.
This is interesting
The sting length of the Japanese giant hornet is more than 6 mm. To inject it under the skin, an insect does not have to sit on a person; it can do this on the fly, and many times.
In people who are particularly sensitive to insect poisons, seemingly banal swelling can turn into a severe allergic reaction with enlarged lymph nodes, nausea and Quincke's edema.
Quite often, after such bites, victims experience anaphylactic shock, sometimes with death. If a person is stung by several hornets at once, he may develop enormous swelling with profuse hemorrhages and necrosis of some tissue in the affected areas of the body.
“The first time for me was in the early summer of 2011, when I was working in my garden. The pain was terrible, as if molten lead had been poured onto my palm. I shook the hornet off my hand and tried to suck the poison out of the wound, but this did not work. I had to go to the hospital. By the time I got there, my condition had deteriorated greatly. My whole arm was swollen up to the elbow, I started to feel hot, my heart was pounding. Already in the hospital I was given some fast-acting medications, and I began to feel better. Two days later I was discharged home, and my arm stopped hurting only after 12 days.”
Isimi Tomasu, Sima
Despite all the horrors that can be caused by the bite of a giant Japanese hornet, in general it is much less aggressive and calmer than, say, an ordinary wasp or bee. It is almost always a person who provokes a bite from this huge predator - when he deliberately tries to get to the nest or accidentally touches an insect. In all other cases, giant hornets in Japan do not pose a direct threat to humans, and if you encounter them you can easily disperse without consequences.
Interesting video: bees defend their hive from a hornet invasion
