r/WTF 9d ago

One little mistake can have grave consequences...

12.6k Upvotes

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137

u/Dazvsemir 9d ago edited 9d ago

wtf was he doing climbing up to the top of the tree without any safety gear, harness etc

btw dropping a hornet hive is not "one little mistake" xD

228

u/NachoEvans 9d ago

They didn't drop a hive. They were holding something that was creating smoke to keep the hornets away, once the smoke was gone the hornets swarmed.

51

u/joebojax 9d ago

theyre also not hornets theyre apis dorsata the giant honeybee

31

u/dingatremel 9d ago

Wait. Do those sting? I know they “heat ball” which, for my money, is one of the coolest defense mechanism in the animal kingdom.

“What did you do about that wasp?”

“I called a few of my boys and we surrounded him and started breakdancing so hard that he overheated and died.”

“You were breakdancing??”

“Well, we are b-boys.”

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u/joebojax 9d ago

yes they do sting and they don't have barbs in their stinger so it doesn't kill them. So each of them will sting multiple times. And there are thousands, and they're the largest most aggressive kind of honeybee.

This man got absolutely clapped out.

These bugs are bigger than most bugs around so they don't need to ball up big bugs the way western honeybee does. Apis dorsata nest out in the open and take no prisoners.

all honeybees favor the head and especially eyes ears nose and mouth as the targets. So we don't see most of what is happening up above the frame of the camera.

also boys dont have stingers so theyre mostly b girls.

on a funny note when western honeybees rob eachother the defenders try to grab them by the legs and wings and they end up spinning around like breakdancers as they wrestle.

15

u/keen36 9d ago edited 8d ago

Your post was in equal measure interesting and terrifying. Thanks!

10

u/joebojax 9d ago

Just like apis dorsata!

If you wanna see something pretty darn cool about these bees look up apis dorsata shimmering

4

u/keen36 9d ago

I just did and it's fascinating, true. Thanks again ^^

1

u/overly_emoti0nal 9d ago

bees rob each other??

1

u/joebojax 9d ago

Yeah african subspecies and Italian subspecies especially

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u/overly_emoti0nal 8d ago

what do they take?? honey? larvae?

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u/joebojax 8d ago

Italian bees will steal honey.

African bees do something called a hostile takeover where a small swarm with their own queen invades the hive, kills the OG queen + drones (boys) and subjugates the workforce.

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u/overly_emoti0nal 8d ago

whoa that's so cool