Swarm of hornets seen feasting on rotting fish
Swarm of hornets seen feasting on rotting fish
2025-09-10
At Keelung’s Badouzi Harbor, locals were recently shocked to find a swarm of bees feasting on a rotting fish. Experts said these were no common bees; they were lesser banded hornets, which often eat meat including carrion and even other small bees. In fact, whenever hornet season comes, beekeepers struggle to drive off these hornets to protect their bee colonies.
In this picture posted online by a Keelung resident, a swarm of bees are seen feasting on a rotting fish carcass. The picture, taken at the Badouzi Harbor, surprised many people who did not expect bees to eat carrion. However, experts said these are no common bees, but lesser banded hornets.
Chen Po-ting
Keelung animal protection officer
While their main source of protein is small insects, occasionally they will also eat rotting meat, which is why you might see them scavenging carrion. But this is not regular behavior. Their diet mainly consists of fresh small insects, and occasionally rotting meat. If they are near the harbor, they tend to feed on decaying fish.
Chang Ching-po
Beekeeper
Hornets are carnivorous. For example, when tilapia jump out of our fishpond here, a big swarm of hornets will eat them.
Lesser banded hornets are carnivorous, and are the most common type of hornet found in urban areas. They are 2.2cm to 2.9cm long, and the front half of their abdomen is yellow, while the back half is black.
Every year from August to October, these hornet colonies develop and mature. It’s a challenging time for beekeepers, as the hornets will prey on small honeybees and pupae.
Chang Ching-po
Beekeeper
They come around the beginning of September. We beekeepers fear hornet the most, because they will kill every bee. I spend the whole day catching them with a net, catching one to two hundred a day.
Although lesser banded hornets are not as aggressive as black-bellied hornets, they are anything but vegetarian. Seeing a whole swarm of hornets feasting on a dead fish is enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end.
#hornet #bee #beekeeper #lesserbandedhornet #carnivore #beeseason #honeybees #Keelung #hornetseason
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果然不是吃素的 ! "巨蜂"聚集啃蝕腐魚畫面驚悚
2025-09-10
最近有民眾在基隆八斗子漁港，看到數十隻的大蜜蜂啃食魚屍，畫面相當驚悚，意外引起話題，專家說這是「黃腰虎頭蜂」，蜜蜂不吃蜜、吃腐肉是正常現象，因為虎頭蜂本來就是肉食性，不僅會吃腐肉，還會吃小蜜蜂，所以每到虎頭蜂季節，養蜂人家就會相當頭痛，每天得注意，趕走牠們。
地面上腐爛的魚屍，怎麼上頭有十幾隻蜜蜂在狂啃，宛如「肉食大軍分食腐屍」，有民眾在基隆八斗子漁港目睹，照片一PO上網，讓不少網友驚呆，蜜蜂竟然會吃屍體，不過專家解答，這是不是一般蜜蜂，而是「黃腰虎頭蜂」。
[[基隆市動保所 陳柏廷]]
“主要還是以攝食小型昆蟲的蛋白質來源為主，偶爾牠會搭配腐蝕的蛋白質，所以就會看到像這個採集腐肉的情形，但這並不是常態。主要還是以新鮮的小昆蟲為主，那偶爾會以這個腐蝕的肉品，那像在港邊的話，就會以腐蝕魚肉為主。”
[[蜂農 張清波]]
“牠(虎頭蜂)本來就是肉食類，像我們這裡有那個魚池裡面，那個吳郭魚跳出來的時候，也是一大堆虎頭蜂在吃啊。”
「黃腰虎頭蜂」本身就是肉食性的，牠是都市最常見的一種虎頭蜂，體長約2.2公分到2.9公分，腹部前半段呈現金黃色，後半段為黑色。
而每年的8月到10月，就是這類虎頭蜂蜂群發展及成熟季節。每到這時候，養蜂人家就相當頭痛，因為牠們會吃掉小蜜蜂、帶走蜂蛹。
[[蜂農 張清波]]
“差不多在9月份的時候會來。我們所有養蜂最怕的那個虎頭蜂，每一隻都咬死咬死，整天拿著網子在那裡打，一天打個一兩百隻。”
雖然黃腰虎頭蜂，不像黑腹虎頭蜂攻擊性那麼強，但顯然牠們也不是吃素的，這樣集體出動，啃蝕死魚的畫面，還真的是令人有些毛骨悚然。
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