Giant
Urban Hornet
As of today, March 17, 2050 the giant urban hornet can now be
found on six continents. The giant urban hornets life history is a
result of global warming, urban decay and the abundance of sugary
sweets. Scientists have been studying what we now call the giant
urban hornet for over 50 years. In the year 2014 42 people were
killed and 1,600 were injured in China by large hornets. The species
started to spread throughout Asia and Europe. In 2004 they arrived
in France in a delivery of Chinese pottery. In 2014 these were the
largest hornets that existed on Earth. Of course we know today that
the hornets could become much larger and that this was just the
beginning of their evolution into what we now call the giant urban
hornet.
The Chinese hornets of 2014 were aggressive and predatory
animals that sent out scouts looking for honeybee hives. Once the
scout found the hive they would send a pheromone trail that other
hornets would follow. The hornets would slaughter thousands of the
much smaller honeybees and take over the nest for themselves. These
invaders are thought to have arrived in Europe in deliveries of
Chinese pottery in 2004 and took over Europe destroying nearly the
entire honeybee population in its wake by 2019.
This earlier species of giant hornet seems small by today's
standards they were only 2 to 4 inches long. Today's giant urban
hornet is 4-6 inches long. The species grew so large by moving into
urban areas where there is plentiful food and building material for
nests and few predators. Because they are so large birds do not eat
them. Their only predator is humans. In 2014 a study at Ontario's
University of Guelph reported that Hornets were using bits of
plastic bags and plastic building material to construct their nests
and no longer needed honeybee hives. The finding is significant
because it showed the hornets resourcefulness. A researcher at the
time noted that plastic waste pervades the global landscape and the
impacts of plastic on the ecosystem included insects adapting to the
plastic rich environment. The researchers at the time said larvae
successfully developed in their plastic lined nests and Hornets
emerged parasite free suggesting plastic nests may be a physical
barrier to parasites. It reflects the ecologically adaptive traits
necessary for survival in an increasingly human dominated
environment according to the report.
Geographic isolation led to numerous local adaptations and
because of global warming they began to spread to larger areas that
used to have a winter too harsh for their survival. With humans
eating so much sugar, their main food source, scientists found the
hornets becoming more and more hearty. As global warming increased
the temperature of the earth many of these hornets started living
through the winters becoming larger and larger. It was the perfect
storm to create urban giant hornets according to Skyler Loftus Nobel
prize-winning biologist. Loftus noticed as early as 2020 that the
giant hornets were not only getting larger but healthier. Choosing
the nesting material made of plastic kept them safe and warm from
predators for longer periods of time allowing the species to grow
exponentially. Loftus notes that the perfect storm includes readily
available sugary food discarded by humans, warmer climate throughout
the world and plastic building materials that allow the hornets to
become larger and larger. Loftus reported in his best-selling novel
on the subject that by 2075 these hornets could be as large as dogs.
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