Get out your 2022 bingo cards and mark off Asian giant hornet news.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture said Wednesday DNA samples taken from the three nests eradicated in 2021 were related to the one found in 2020. This means the hornets found in 2021 flew away from the older one before it was destroyed.
The queens from the nests destroyed in 2021 did not mate with nests the department of agriculture doesn’t know about. While that doesn’t mean there aren’t more nests out there, there is no evidence that there are.
The Asian giant hornets are sometimes called murder hornets because they prey on other bees. They can conduct mass attacks on honey bee hives, destroying the hive in a matter of hours. While they do not generally attack people or pets, they can attack when threatened.
Asian giant hornets are the world’s largest hornets and are not native to North America.
Last year we took DNA samples from several specimens from each of the three #AsianGiantHornet nests that we eradicated. We were able to determine that all three 2021 nests were related to the 2020 nest. pic.twitter.com/IYwvrz0CGT
— Washington State Department of Agriculture (@WSDAgov) January 12, 2022
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