THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT HORNETS

Contrary to popular belief, hornets are social creatures that thrive by living in hives, or what experts call grist. They belong to the Vespa genus of wasps and are considered to be omnivorous. Their Queen only lives for a few months during the winter months and their average lifespan is approximately 3 months.

Hornets vary in size quite a bit and can be as small as 3 centimeters long or as large as 10 centimeters. They are related closely to yellow jackets and most hornets are only found in tropical Asian countries. Rarely, however, you can find hornet communities as far away as Europe, Africa or North America though this is not their natural habitat.

Hive Building & Hive Life

The hornet builds it hive by chewing on wood until it becomes a translucent mush of construction matter. This material is flesh-like which makes it perfect for developing hornet eggs into maturity. Only the queen hornets can reproduce therefore they have control of the hive – most of the population of the hive consists of androgynous females who are only capable of performing mindless tasks such as construction, food gathering, feeding the young and protecting the colony with their powerful stinger. There are only a small number of male hornets and their only responsibility is to mate with the queen and product offspring. The technical name for a male hornet is a drone and they die soon after mating

Cool Weather & Hornet Activity

During the coldest months hornets will abandon their nests and seek refuse in a protected area such as a hollow tree. Typically they bring their eggs with them and in the spring the queen will begin a new nest. When the young hornets are mature enough to take over construction tasks the queen will then return to the job of breeding, until she grows too old and the next generation of queens, workers and drones take over.

The Dangers of Stinging

Hornets usually aren't aggressive to human beings, unless they are first aggravated. If they feel that their hive is being threatened they will go on the offense in order to defend it. Hornets are most dangerous if their nests are severely disturbed or destroyed and have been known to attack animals and humans to the point of death, with dozens or even hundreds of stings. A single sting can be quite painful but is usually treatable, unless the person is allergic. A hornet sting allergy requires immediate care or it can lead to serious complications or even death. If you aren't allergic you can treat the area with calamine lotion and ice and the symptoms should go away within 24 to 48 hour.