Nov 23, 2020 09:00:00

To get rid of the giant hornet, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has installed a 'small transmitter' to find its nest.

The

giant hornet, which inhabits widely in East Asia and Japan, has recently expanded its habitat across the sea to the North American continent, and is feared locally as the 'murder bee'. To get rid of such giant hornets, the United States Department of Agriculture is trying to attach a 'small transmitter' to the body of the giant hornet.

USDA's Cutting-Edge Methods Help Deliver a Victory Against Asian Giant Hornet | USDA
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2020/10/29/usdas-cutting-edge-methods-help-deliver-victory-against-asian-giant-hornet

Here's The Genius Trick USDA Is Using to Infiltrate Nests of Giant'Murder' Hornets
https://www.sciencealert.com/how-the-usda-is-fighting-the-invasion-of-giant-murder-hornets-with-tiny-radio-tags

'Vespa mandarinia' is the world's largest hornet, which is widely distributed throughout Japan and from India to Southeast Asia and Russia. It has been said that such giant hornets do not inhabit North America, but in December 2019, the first sighting case in the United States was reported in Washington State, and in May 2020, it was confirmed to inhabit Washington State. I did. The giant hornet has received a great deal of attention in the United States because it not only threatens the survival of honeybees, but can sometimes even kill people.

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https://apnews.com/article/c4acc013a2d9d26ac08e03723c69b603

The Washington State Agricultural Service (WSDA) has also embarked on the extermination of the giant hornet, and as of October 2020, it had adopted a vacuum cleaner extermination method.

Succeeded in exterminating the nest of the giant hornet feared as a 'murder bee' in the United States for the first time --GIGAZINE

However, such extermination has the problem of 'I don't know the location of the nest'. Since the giant hornet has the property of nesting deep in the forest, inside a hollow fallen tree, and even in an underground cavity, there should be a nest near the sight of the giant hornet, but the location is unknown. It continued.

WSDA's insectologist, who was troubled by the location of the nest, devised a new method of 'attaching a small transmitter to a living giant hornet to find the nest.' In partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture, we have installed a small transmitter on the giant hornet, which has been successful in research such as Biwahagoromo .

Despite many mistakes such as missing the giant hornet and the small transmitter coming off because the glue did not dry, the WSDA team used the transmitter to create a nest in the gap in the dead tree trunk. Identify that. Succeeded in removing the nest after sucking 85 animals with a vacuum cleaner and capturing 13 animals with a net. I disposed of two queen bees and many worker bees that were alive in the nest.

The WSDA team, which won the case, commented that the fight to eradicate the giant hornet could continue over the next few years. We predict that the giant hornet will expand its range in the United States.