Breaking news: I should never ever ever use straight needles again. They hurt my hands and wrist and essentially my whole arm and then the left side of my hand goes numb all the way to my elbow and then I can’t knit
I feel privileged to have two grandmothers that believe me when I say I’m in pain and that it doesn’t stop
That my ear hurts and rings almost constantly and has since I was small
That walking hurts more than it used to, that if I move any of my limbs slightly wrong I can’t move it at all
That my back pain isn’t fake, even though the doctors said it is
My Grammy is even sending me some packages to help me and that’s a god send.
Numbers donāt lie but people can sure as fuck pick and choose the numbers they give you and phrase things to make them sound like they mean things they donāt
learn fucking stats or at least how they can hurt
As a wise man once said: There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
I havenāt seen this post in a min but precisely when I have a headache RN it comes up in my feed
Two quick additions, as someone who suffered from chronic migraines
1. Behind the eyes: eye strain or just long stress. More sleep will definitely make this feel better. 2. Temples: unclench your jaw, as that bone is putting too much pressure on your temples.
This is a fucking life saviour with the amount of headaches I have
happy Friday everyone, youāve made it through the week and now itās time for an all-new episode of Weird Biology!Ā
this week, weāll be learning about a horrifically lethal insect whose very name makes you cringe. itās that special bug buddy that I want to stay very far away from me forever,
Iām of the opinion that the wordsĀ āgiantā andĀ āhornetā should never be combined, but maybe thatās just me.Ā
the Asian Giant Hornet has a perfectly descriptive and terrifying name. itās the largest hornet on the planet, and is also known as the āYak-Killer Hornetā because of its incredibly painful sting. (āYak-Killer Hornetā is not a set of words that I ever wanted to type, but I got myself into this.)
as the name suggests, the Asian Giant Hornet is found, uh, in Asia. specifically, the lowlands and forests of East Asia. this unfortunately means the Hornet shares elbow space with hundreds of millions of humans, so if you live in East Asia you have my condolences.
I am so, so sorry.
and like the name suggests, the Asian Giant Hornet is, well. Giant. (though basically anything over half an inch is Too Damn Big when weāre talking about the wasp family.)
but weāre shit out of luck in this case, because this hornet is almost 2Ā inches long.Ā itās upsetting to find a spider that large, never mind whatās basically an overpowered and permanently angry wasp. and if that werenāt enough, they make underground hives that they share with 30+ of their brethren. jesus.
that is TOO MUCH HORNET. PUT IT BACK.
their stingers are only 6 mm long, which might not seem that bad! but like a lot of things in life, itās what they do with it that counts. in this case, what they do with it is inject a large amount of corrosive venom into your helpless flesh. fun! (donātā¦. google this. just donāt.)
the sting of the Asian Giant Hornet is considered to be one of the worst insect stings in the world. a single sting can really fuck up a human, and multiple stings can be lethal. which really sucks, because a hive of these things is more than enough Hornet to kill your face right off. right off.Ā
but normally, Asian Giant Hornets arenāt using their stings to kill humans. they use them to kill the living fuck out of other insects, which they then eat.
no joke, Wikipedia describes them asĀ āintensely predatoryā.
Asian Giant Hornets will eat any insect they can get the drop on, including praying mantises and smaller wasps.Ā theyāre like a pack of hungry and extremely toxic wolves.Ā
and one of their favorite foods is⦠honeybees! (in case you didnāt think these things were awful enough, they especially love baby honeybees.)Ā
when an Asian Giant Hornet scout finds a honeybee hive, they leave a scent marking outside. the scout then retreats to its own hive and returns with a Giant Hornet invasion force. an entire bee hive can be destroyed in hours by as few as 30 Hornets. the honeybees fall trying to defend their queen and then the hornets steal their larva. the poor bees have absolutely zero defenses against them.
this is the saddest picture Iāve ever put in a Weird Biology article.
well. MOST honeybees, anyway.
the Asian Giant Hornet has exactly one counter, but itās a fucking good one. itās-
thatās right, itās a two-for-one special! hurray, time for bees!
the Japanese Honeybee is pretty identical to the European Honeybee, down to being kept commercially for their honey. but there is one major difference.
if an Asian Giant Hornet scout approaches a Japanese Honeybee hive, the entire beehive is immediately on alert. the Honeybees respond to the Hornet by creating a diabolical and kind of insane trap: they abandon the entrance of the hive, which attracts the Hornet scout into investigating.Ā
and once the Hornet scout is inside the beehive, itās TIME FOR BEE MOSH.
LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOOOOR
the secretly-metal-as-fuck bees dogpile the Hornet, immobilizing it. the bees then vibrate their flight muscles, generating a massive amount of heat. this causes the mosh pit temperature to skyrocket over 115 F,Ā literally cooking the Hornet scout alive. the bees escape relatively unharmed because they can tolerate much higher temps than Asian Giant Hornets, probably because Metal fills their tiny bee souls.Ā
with the Hornet scout disposed of, the main invasion force will never arrive. this strategic assassination keeps the beehive safe for another day, and itās all thanks to murder! yay, bees!
yeah thatās right, RUN, MOTHERFUCKER.
the relationship between Asian Giant Hornets and Japanese Honeybees is a case of ongoing biological warfare. we might learn things from observing, orrr we might not. whatever the case, you have to admit that itās cool as shit.
so long, Asian Giant Hornet! I hope I never have to type your name again!
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thanks for reading! you can find the rest of the Weird Biology series here.
if you enjoy my work, maybe buy me a coffee or check out my Patreon to see extra content and support Weird Biology.
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IMAGE SOURCES
img1- India Today img2- dnevnik.ba img3- Lazer Horse img4- YouTube img5- Termirepel img6- The Fox Gazette img7- ABC img8- The Telegraph