A deadly ‘murder hornet’ killed a mouse at least twice its size in a matter seconds.
The Asian giant hornet – nicknamed the murder hornet – demonstrated just how lethal it was when it easily took out a mouse with it’s venom.
Trigger warning: Contains content that shows the killing of an animal and it may be distressing to some.
Cell phone footage of the incident shows a mouse desperately trying to shake off a hornet latched to its side.
The two wrestled in a frantic battle, but the hornet managed to crawl onto the mouse’s back and continued to strike with its stinger.
At one point, the mouse managed to jerk away in a last feeble attempt at freedom.
In less than a minute, the poor mouse finally conceded and lay dead on the sidewalk.
The Asian giant hornet simply flew away.
The large hornets are native to temperate and tropical climates in East Asia, where they kill around 50 people are year.
But since November 2019, there have been several sightings of the hornets on the west coast of North America. It’s unclear how they arrived.
Asian giant hornets are more than double the size of honeybees, and have a wingspan measuring more than three inches.
The insects also have a large stinger filled with venom that contains neurotoxin, which is capable of causing both cardiac arrest and anaphylactic shock.
Last November, a beekeeper in Washington state found ‘thousands and thousands’ of his honeybees with their heads torn off.
‘I couldn’t wrap my head around what could have done that,’ the keeper stated.
Asian giant hornets nest in the ground for most of the year, but are most active between July and November.
