How Do Hornets Overwinter? A Detailed Guide to Safe Overwintering Methods for Hornets
The hornet is a general term for animals of the family Vespidae in the class Insecta, and does not refer to just one kind of hornet. There are extremely many species of hornets, about 15,000 species worldwide, with more than 5,000 known species, while about 200 species have been recorded in China. Some hornets are highly venomous, and a sting may cause shock or even death in humans. So how do hornets overwinter?
1. How Hornets Overwinter
At the end of September and the beginning of October each year, hornets begin to leave their old nests and migrate to suitable places to gather for overwintering; starting in October, the queens of various wild hornet colonies mate one after another. The drones that mate with the queens will die shortly afterward, while the queens move their bloated bodies and begin searching for cavities in soil, stones and trees, which will be their shelter for overwintering. The lower the temperature, the more tightly they huddle together. After natural selection, in April of the following year, the wild hornet queens that overwintered safely awaken, crawl out of their cavities, and begin looking for suitable nesting sites.
Hornets are only weakly social, far less so than ants, and once winter arrives, the colony naturally disintegrates. When the following spring comes, the hornets that survived the winter rebuild their families, with several females building a nest together and laying eggs in the nest cells. At the same time, these females fight one another to compete for the highest rank. Once the dominance hierarchy is established, the single highest-ranking female monopolizes the right to lay eggs, and the remaining females, if they do not fly away, can only occupy a subordinate position; their eggs may even be eaten by the highest-ranking female.
2. The Useful Value of Hornets
Hornet pupae are a nutritious food rich in high protein. They are formed by the colony being fed high-value foods such as royal jelly, honey and pollen, and they have very high nutritional value when eaten. They are an extremely premium natural nutritional food with tonic and strengthening effects, and have a certain therapeutic effect on patients with conditions such as physical weakness, weak waist and knees, and impotence and seminal emission. In addition, hornets can also be used as medicine. The adults, larvae and nests of hornets can all be used in traditional Chinese medicine, either taken internally or applied externally, and can treat conditions such as poisonous insect bites and venomous boils.
The above is some related knowledge about hornets. Friends interested in hornets can also read some books related to hornets in depth and carefully learn about this creature, the hornet.