Murder hornets are giant hornets that originated in Asia and made their debut in the United States in December 2019. The females in this species grow to 2.2 inches long with a 3 inch wingspan, and have a maximum flight speed of 25 mph.
As if the term “hornet” is not scary enough, some scientist somewhere decided to tack the word “murder” in front of it to incite fear into people.
The news gave them a brief nod back in December when they first showed up, and then they made a reappearance in the media again in July. Now they are back in the headlines after the first nest was recently destroyed in Washington by employees of the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
To be completely honest, I do not see much of a reason to fly into a panic over these insects. This species of hornet, though ridiculously large, have existed for a long time in South and Eastern Asia.
They are not as much of a threat to humans as they are to the honeybee population. They attack and kill the bees that help pollinate the land to grow flowers and other plants to produce clean oxygen.
If we have learned anything by now about the ways of the world, it is that anything can spread rapidly, so they may very well find their way into the southeast. As the weather cools down, the hornets who have made their nests in the northeast might start seeking a warmer and more humid climate that they are used to.
In this way, they could migrate down to our region, though there are plenty of warmer locations that they can stop at along the way before they reach us.
As with the coronavirus, we need to be cautious but prepare for the worst case scenario.
