# The most dangeous insect in the world?



## Morning Star (Dec 13, 2004)

It is in my opinion.

"Hornets from Hell"

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021025_GiantHornets.html

Here are some interesting tidbits.

"A small but highly efficient killing machine—a hornet two inches long and with a wingspan up to three inches—lurks in the mountains of Japan. The voracious predator has a quarter-inch stinger that pumps out a dose of venom with an enzyme so strong it can dissolve human tissue."

"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."

"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." 

Now that's a bad bug.


----------



## Foxbat (Dec 13, 2004)

OMG!   

The worst we have here are Wasps - and I hate them with a passion. I have loads of Honey Bees and Bumbles in my garden in summer and they're no problem but  - wasps! Sheesh, once they get started on my apples at the end of August, they're bad tempered stinging machines.

I have to say that I've always wanted to visit Japan but now I don't think I'll bother.


----------



## hodor (Dec 14, 2004)

I don't think I have seen a hornet but I have seen lots of wasps too . You see alot of times I am working on roofs and older roofs are favorites for wasps to build their nests. Arghhh they are nasty little devils.


----------



## Morning Star (Dec 14, 2004)

An interesting fact for me is what is known across the world as African Killer Bees are in actual fact our common honey bees here in South Africa. It seems they are the most aggressive out of all the bee species, this was due to cross breeding long ago which produced the sweetest honey and as a result, the meanest bee.


----------



## Foxbat (Dec 14, 2004)

> which produced the sweetest honey and as a result, the meanest bee.



There's an ironic ecological message in there somewhere


----------



## hodor (Dec 14, 2004)

Anything that stings is nasty to me. I used to live in Arizona where they got scorpions. I got stung one (as one was in my slipper and I didnt know it). I couldn't walk for nearly a weak and my toe was blue for two weeks. Nasty.


----------



## Alexa (Dec 14, 2004)

Morning Star said:
			
		

> "A small but highly efficient killing machine—a hornet two inches long and with a wingspan up to three inches—lurks in the mountains of Japan. The voracious predator has a quarter-inch stinger that pumps out a dose of venom with an enzyme so strong it can dissolve human tissue."


Hmm. That's a place I don't wanna visit as long as that ugly bug is there ! 
I don't like wasps, either. I didn't see any scorpion alive yet and I don't regret it at all.


----------



## Morning Star (Dec 14, 2004)

My sympathies to Hodor, a scorpion sting is terrible. Apparantly the poison of the really bad ones is akin to electric shocks...during the recovery phase the patients also often come under a feeling of euphoria..a sort of high. It's merely the eye of the storm, cos after that they fall into an agonising relapse.

You experience anything like that I wonder, Hodor?


----------



## Leto (Dec 14, 2004)

Alexa said:
			
		

> I didn't see any scorpion alive yet and I don't regret it at all.


 Don't come in the South of France then, there's quite a lot of them (less dangerous than the ones in Arizona) and they tend to love bathrooms at night. Or lying under garden pot.


----------



## Lament Du Lamia (Dec 16, 2004)

O_O  --- and i thought i was terrified about the (as i havent seena hornet) wasps i have to deal with here. Im bound to have nightmares for weeks.


----------



## Alexa (Dec 16, 2004)

Leto said:
			
		

> Don't come in the South of France then, there's quite a lot of them (less dangerous than the ones in Arizona) and they tend to love bathrooms at night. Or lying under garden pot.


In bathrooms also ! Brrrrrrrrr ! Be sure, I won't !


----------



## Leto (Dec 16, 2004)

Just avoid the countryside. The towns near the beach are scorpions-free (mostly). 
I hates these animals.


----------



## Alexa (Dec 16, 2004)

I hate snakes, too. Glad to hear I still can visit the South of France.


----------



## Space Monkey (Dec 16, 2004)

This thread is giving me thrills and shivers at the same time.  The Hornet is so impressive; I love hearing about different species of super villains like this.
I'm a chicken though; when I was a kid, I was wading through a naturally formed pool of seawater on the beach in Sandsend, near Whitby, and something tiny wiggled under my foot.  I nearly had a heart attack - I'm WAY more scared of small, discreet creatures than the bigger snarling, drooling variety.  At least you can see a rabit pit bull coming.


----------



## Leto (Dec 16, 2004)

And a rabid chihuahua ? 
Just as dangerous. And trickier to spot on time.


----------



## Circus Cranium (Dec 16, 2004)

(And a rabid chihuahua ? 
Just as dangerous. And trickier to spot on time.)

It's the big...pointy...teeth.


----------



## Alysheba (Dec 31, 2004)

I prefer my dangerous insects to remain on Animal Planet or The Discovery Channel. I suppose if you are in Africa, the more dangerous one would be a mosquito and maybe parasitic worms (which are really disturbing). 

Lucky for me I haven't come across anything like what has been mentioned here. Sure, I've been stung by bees, but that's not much to cry about. The worst bite I ever had was from my African Grey parrot. It didn't kill me but hurt like hell considering he can break the end off a broomstick.


----------



## Tsujigiri (Mar 4, 2005)

As an interesting point, a Yorkshire Terrier is higher up the dangerous species list than a Doberman or Pit Bull.

Apparently the psychotic little bastards will attack anything that takes their fancy and are prone to full blown psychosis


----------



## Alysheba (Mar 5, 2005)

LOL... It's something about the terrier breeds. Jack Russells have multiple personalities and at least one of them is homicidal.


----------



## scifimoth (Mar 12, 2005)

Generally my experience as far as dogs go has always been that there is a direct relationship between owner irresponsibility/ignorance and the dangerousness of the animal...


----------



## Tsujigiri (Mar 12, 2005)

Yes...apart from Yorkshire Terriers, which are basically small walking neurotic bastards with homidical tendencies and sharp teeth.


----------



## scifimoth (Mar 13, 2005)

Sheesh...I sense a strong dislike for Yorkies. Is this a childhood thing? *grin*


----------



## Tsujigiri (Mar 13, 2005)

My Grandad had one, it was a very sweet thing, friendly and furry.

I saw it win a fight with an Alsatian once.......


----------



## scifimoth (Mar 15, 2005)

Most Terriers are blissfully unaware that they may be smaller than what they are taking on...and even if they had a notion that the other dog is bigger and perhaps more powerful they wouldn't care. A terrier is always surpremely confident that he/she is smarter, better, and faster I have known a great deal of different terrier breeds and that holds true of all of them. Personally I get to know a dog and judge each individually...otherwise I would never go near another Dachshund after the bad childhood experience I had


----------



## Tsujigiri (Mar 15, 2005)

Psychotic Dachshund?


----------



## scifimoth (Mar 17, 2005)

You bet...a small and dangerously neurotic animal of great determination.


----------



## Tsujigiri (Mar 17, 2005)

You appear to be describing my ex wife


----------



## scifimoth (Apr 1, 2005)

Er...you married a dachshund? *grins*


----------



## Tsujigiri (Apr 2, 2005)

Close.....the human variant anyway....


I got better tho


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

Lol. So what was it like?


----------



## Tsujigiri (Apr 9, 2005)

Amber said:
			
		

> Lol. So what was it like?



In short, 3 years of not paying attention really. Never get involved with easy women when you're on the rebound 

She wasn't even my type, I tend to go for the long dark hair, brown eyes & etc...she was blonde and didn't have the depth to know she was shallow.


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

Well that's certainly damning


----------



## Tsujigiri (Apr 9, 2005)

Just honest really. The truth has a way of damning you sometimes


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

I'm blond ^^ I'm deep enough to know I'm shallow. Like a puddle. A puddle that can read good books


----------



## Tsujigiri (Apr 9, 2005)

There's nothing wrong with being blonde, there is also nothing wrong with being too shallow to know you are that way.
I'm pretty sure that while you are the former, you are not the latter.


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

Why thank you. I appreciate that. So many people assume blond = shallow


----------



## Lacedaemonian (Apr 9, 2005)

Cute blonde = shallow


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

There's an insult there ......


----------



## Lacedaemonian (Apr 9, 2005)

Sorry, I have no idea what you look like.  I apprently look like George Clooney - with Downs.


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

Lol. Hey it's different. I sorta look like a female Draco Malfoy, except not


----------



## Lacedaemonian (Apr 9, 2005)

Awesome or not....


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

Blond, medium height, green/grey eyes, pointed face


----------



## Lacedaemonian (Apr 9, 2005)

Sound attractive, but not cute though.


----------



## Winters_Sorrow (Apr 9, 2005)

Use hair dye

A few years from now, you'll not even remember what your natural hair colour is... 

p.s. pointed face? I'm thinking of the female gelfing in dark crytal now


----------



## Lacedaemonian (Apr 9, 2005)

I was too.  Or Terrorhawks.


----------



## Winters_Sorrow (Apr 9, 2005)

ha ha - they use to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid.
I still have an irrational fear of rubix cubes..


----------



## Lacedaemonian (Apr 9, 2005)

They truly were terrorfying, though I am not sure that they qualify as insects.  Not sure that Amber does either.


----------



## Amber (Apr 9, 2005)

I'll take that how it was meant  I have no insect blood in my veins thank you very much, though I have been accused of being cold blooded- reptilian style


----------

