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[Michael]

(I had to think about where to file this post, but I decided it was at least as on-topic here as "knitted beards"...)

While browsing TVTropes (also via Cracked.com), I came across this video showing a honeybee colony being annihilated by Japanese Giant Hornets.  The narrator estimates 30 hornets vs. 30,000 bees, but the result is absolute victory for the hornets.  This immediately reminded me of what is likely to happen should a DF player manage to encounter The Circus unspoiled...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fTrSOFyfxs

Note that Japan has a native honeybee species that is resistant to such attacks.  Not via raw power, but by a tactic of trapping the hornet scouts so the main force doesn't find them.  It's not as productive as our bees, but attempts to import European bees there did not work out.

There are plenty of videos out there showing single organisms being just as utterly raped, but showing a community wiped out is unusual.

[King DZA]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc

[Doomchild-]

that's the downside to introducing foreign lifeforms to a sheltered/isolated ecosystem, either the new animal has no natural predator and spreads like a plague or it has no defence against the native predators and is systematically wiped out.

[Kogut]

Note that Japan has a native honeybee species that is resistant to such attacks.  Not via raw power, but by a tactic of trapping the hornet scouts so the main force doesn't find them.  It's not as productive as our bees, but attempts to import European bees there did not work out.

To elaborate: honeybees swarm hornet to kill him using heat, as bees are able to survive in higher temperature than hornet.

[TurnpikeLad]

Hah, you're right... I kept thinking, "now only if they had outfitted those soldier bees in full adamantine gear, they could have stood a chance.."

[Cruxador]

The video mentioned that stings from honeybees aren't sufficient to stop one, but it didn't mention how the wasps are able to endure this.

[tommy521]

"Let me just finish building the wax block wa- OH GOD WHAT IS THAT!"
...
"Pull the lever."

[proxn_punkd]

The video mentioned that stings from honeybees aren't sufficient to stop one, but it didn't mention how the wasps are able to endure this.

They're huge compared to the bees. Maybe they just have thick skin shell chitin that the bees can't get through.

[Bralbaard]

The video mentioned that stings from honeybees aren't sufficient to stop one, but it didn't mention how the wasps are able to endure this.

They're huge compared to the bees. Maybe they just have thick skin shell chitin that the bees can't get through.

Indeed, the bees just can't penetrate the armor, but some types of bees have learned to deal with this, they don't use magma but a probably even better tactic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6m40W1s0Wc
(the hornet arrives at approximately 1:05)

[monk12]

The video mentioned that stings from honeybees aren't sufficient to stop one, but it didn't mention how the wasps are able to endure this.

They're huge compared to the bees. Maybe they just have thick skin shell chitin that the bees can't get through.

They need some Addy Stingers

[Oliolli]

The video mentioned that stings from honeybees aren't sufficient to stop one, but it didn't mention how the wasps are able to endure this.

They're huge compared to the bees. Maybe they just have thick skin shell chitin that the bees can't get through.

They need some Addy Stingers

Blunt attacks sort-of ignore armor, am I right? Why don't they just get sliver stingers and make them blunt?

[eggrock]

No video at work, but if I'm thinking of the right hornet, they're dangerous to humans, sometimes fatally. The stings are one of the most painful of any sting/bite. Some professor at Arizona U (I think) rates the stings/bites of insects based on the amount of pain they induce, and the Japanese Hornet rates a 4/4.

[edit] They're also dorfy in that when they decide to attack you they keep at it. However, I don't think they "latch on firmly" like some other dorfy critters will.

[Koji]

We were only able to survive by flooding the lower levels with honey. I can still hear them buzzing...oh gods, what have we unleashed?

[Michael]

They need some Addy Stingers

Actually, I'd recommend they learn some necromancy.  The hornets are so effective because they tear the bees limb from limb.  A hive of zom-bees would present some difficulty to the hornets.

No video at work, but if I'm thinking of the right hornet, they're dangerous to humans, sometimes fatally. The stings are one of the most painful of any sting/bite. Some professor at Arizona U (I think) rates the stings/bites of insects based on the amount of pain they induce, and the Japanese Hornet rates a 4/4.

[edit] They're also dorfy in that when they decide to attack you they keep at it. However, I don't think they "latch on firmly" like some other dorfy critters will.

Sounds like you've read Cracked's page:
http://www.cracked.com/article_15816_the-5-most-horrifying-bugs-in-world.html
but got the bugs mixed up.

It's bullet ants that top out the Schmidt Pain Index, and it's killer bees that won't let go.

But humans do have some cause to fear the hornet.  It doesn't just sting -- it squirts venom into your eyes.

[Kogut]

From my personal experience - hornet is not stinging, it is biting (at least - it feels like this). And attack of a single hornet may result in one week in hospital.