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When I was a young child I had the misfortune to fall into a wasp nest in a field we use to play in. I received hundreds of strings from the crazy and very mad wasps for disturbing their home. I was only saved by my mother, who sucked out each string. But I also had stings in my ears and mouth. For decades I couldn't be near a bee or a wasp. I had nightmares for months. I'm now better with that, but when I see one of these "Hornets from Hell" I'm off. When I was living in the Japan Alps,(94-02) they were a frequent visitor to my painting spots. Sometimes I also see them where I now live in Kobe City.

A small but highly efficient killing machine lurks in the mountains of Japan, the Japanese giant hornet. The voracious predator pumps out a dose of venom with an enzyme so strong it can dissolve human tissue. Just a handful of these hornets can kill 30,000 European honeybees within hours.

Source:National Geographic

Bees, other hornet species, and larger insects such as praying mantises are no match for the giant hornets, which often stalk their prey in relentless armies. Just one of these hornets can kill 40 European honeybees a minute; a handful of the creatures can slaughter 30,000 European honeybees within hours, leaving a trail of severed insect heads and limbs.

People are not the Japanese giant hornet's usual prey, but those who have felt its sting describe the pain as excruciating. Masato Ono, an entomologist at Tamagawa University, near Tokyo, said it's "like a hot nail through my leg."

Someone who is stung by the hornet and doesn't receive proper treatment soon thereafter can die from the venom, which is powerful enough to disintegrate human flesh. About 40 people die each year after being stung by giant hornets, mainly as a result of an allergic reaction to the venom.

The National Geographic TV series EXPLORER t00k a close look at this powerful overlord of the insect world when it aired it's program, Hornets From Hell, Oct., 04,

The film's producer, Jeff Morales, said he wanted to give the Japanese giant hornet a fair hearing. "Hornets get a bad rap for the most part, but they really are an integral part of a delicate ecosystem," he said. "Social insects like the hornet are incredibly intriguing animals, and there are so many things we have yet to discover about their ways."

European honeybees are a favorite target of the giant hornets. Commonly used by Japanese farmers, the honeybees are not native to Japan and have no natural defenses against an onslaught of giant hornets.

Adult hornets feed their young by chewing the flesh of their victims into a gooey paste that the offspring devour. The larvae are well fed, and in turn provide the adults with a powerful energy-boosting cocktail in their saliva.

It's called vespa amino acid mixture, or VAAM. Regular doses of VAAM from the larvae give giant hornets their incredible stamina and energy—when pursuing prey, they can travel a range of 60 miles (96 kilometers) at speeds reaching 25 miles per hour.

The incredible effects of VAAM have not gone unnoticed in Japan: The country's latest sports drink is based on this "hornet power." It contains a synthetic form of components in the hornet larval saliva, which is touted as performance-boosting. Japanese gold medalist and world-record marathon runner Naoko Takahashi declared that VAAM gave her an edge in the Olympic Games held in Sydney, Australia.

In Japan's mountain villages, the hornets are valued as part of the basic diet. They are eaten deep fried, or even as hornet sashimi.

Source:"Hornets From Hell" Offer Real-Life Fright