Yellow-Legged Hornets: Why Bees Stop Foraging
from About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Hosted by Ron Miksha
Season 10 Episode 5: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Yellow-Legged Hornets: Why Bees Stop Foraging A hornet hovers outside a hive. It catches a bee. Then something less obvious happens: fewer bees leave to forage. The flowers may still be there, but the colony's food supply begins to falter. The bees have been watching and are paralyzed by fright. In this episode of About Bees, Culture, and Curiosity, we follow the yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, from its Asian origins to its European invasion and its first confirmed U.S. detection near Savannah, Georgia, in 2023. What makes this predator a problem for honey bees? Why is it different from the so-called "murder hornet"? And how far might it spread across North America? We explore foraging paralysis, overwintering queens, the limits of climate maps, and the challenge of finding nests before new queens disperse. We also consider risks to people, ways to protect apiaries, and why indiscriminate trapping can harm the insects we hope to protect. A story about invasive species, careful observation, and the surprising amount of ecology taking place at a hive entrance. This podcast was Recorded and produced by Ron Miksha in October 2026 in Calgary. Please subscribe, like, love, and follow. We live or die by your adulation. Podcast website: https://sites.libsyn.com/540327/site About Ron Miksha: miksha.com Finally: email your questions, comments, and angst: [email protected]
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