Hornets are big wasps.
They live in nests made of wood. A queen lives in the nest. She lays eggs. The workers help the queen. They find food for the babies.
Do you see a hornet?
Hornets are large wasps.
They make nests from chewed wood. This wood becomes a paper pulp.
One queen lives in the nest. She lays the eggs. Many female workers help her. They find food for the babies. The workers also build the nest. Some hornets live in trees. Other hornets live in the ground. They can sting to protect their home.
A hornet can sting more than once.
Hornets are large wasps. There are 22 known species in the genus Vespa.
Most hornets live in warm places. The European hornet lives in many areas. It is found in Europe, Russia, and North America.
Hornets live in groups. Each nest has one queen. She lays the eggs. Female workers help the queen. They build the nest and find food. They make the nest by chewing wood. This makes a paper pulp.
In the spring, a queen starts a new nest. She builds small cells. She lays an egg in each cell. The egg hatches into a larva. The larva grows and then changes into an adult. This change is called metamorphosis. The adult then eats its way out of its cell.
Adult hornets eat nectar and sugar. They also hunt other insects. They use their jaws and stingers to kill prey. They feed the insects to the larvae.
Hornets use stingers to defend their homes. A sting can be very painful. This is because their venom has a lot of acetylcholine. This is a chemical that causes pain. Unlike honey bees, hornets do not die after they sting.
Hornets are a special group of large wasps in the genus Vespa. They are the largest of the eusocial wasps, which means they live together in big groups.
Most hornets live in warm tropical areas of Asia. However, the European hornet is found in many places like Europe, Russia, and North America. Some people call other wasps hornets, like the bald-faced hornet in North America. This insect is actually a yellowjacket, but it is called a hornet because it builds nests in the air.
A hornet colony works like a busy team. It starts in the spring when a queen finds a safe spot, like a hollow tree. She builds small cells by chewing up wood into a paper pulp.
The queen lays an egg in each cell. After a few days, the egg hatches into a larva. The larva goes through five stages of growth. During metamorphosis, the larva spins a silk cap and turns into an adult. Once the first workers hatch, they do all the hard jobs like finding food and building the nest. The queen stays in the nest to lay more eggs.
How hornets find food is very interesting. Adult hornets love sweet things like nectar, honey, and fruit juice. They might even gnaw a hole in a piece of fruit to eat the pulp.
They also act as hunters. Hornets use their strong jaws and stingers to catch other insects like grasshoppers or honey bees. They do not eat the insects themselves, though. Instead, they carry the prey back to the nest to feed the growing larvae.
Hornets are known for being very protective of their homes. If they feel threatened, they can release a special scent called a pheromone. This scent acts like an alarm that tells other hornets to attack.
Their stings can be quite painful for humans. This is because their venom contains a lot of a chemical called acetylcholine. Unlike honey bees, hornets do not die after they sting. Their stingers are not hooked, so they can pull them out and sting many times. In some places, like Japan, the Asian giant hornet is very dangerous because its venom is very strong.
You might see hornets near your home in the late summer. They often build nests under roof overhangs or inside sheds.
Because they like sugar, they might fly into orchards to find ripe fruit. If you see a hornet on a piece of fruit, it is best to be careful. They are very busy insects, but they will defend their food and their nest very quickly.
Hornets are large, social wasps belonging to the genus *Vespa*. They are the largest members of the eusocial wasps, a group known for living in organized colonies.
While they look similar to yellowjackets, hornets are distinguished by the relatively large top margin of their heads. There are 22 recognized species within the *Vespa* genus. Most of these species live in the tropical regions of Asia. However, the European hornet (*Vespa crabro*) has a much wider distribution. It lives throughout Europe, Russia, North America, and northeastern Asia.
Many insects are incorrectly called hornets due to their appearance or behavior. In North America, the bald-faced hornet is actually a type of yellowjacket from the genus *Dolichovespula*. It is named a hornet because it builds aerial nests rather than underground ones. Similarly, the Australian hornet is actually a species of potter wasp. There are also "night hornets" in the genus *Provespa*, which are nocturnal Asian wasps. These naming differences can cause confusion when studying the family Vespidae. Understanding these distinctions helps scientists correctly classify these different stinging insects.
A hornet colony follows a specific life cycle that begins in the spring. A fertilized female, known as the queen, founds the nest.
She selects a sheltered location, such as a dark, hollow tree trunk. The queen builds horizontal layers of cells called combs by chewing wood into a papery pulp. She lays an egg in each cell. After five to eight days, the egg hatches into a larva. The larva undergoes five stages of development over two weeks. During metamorphosis, the larva spins a silk cap and transforms into an adult.
Once the first generation of female workers hatches, they take over all tasks except egg-laying.
As the colony grows, the workers add more combs and build an outer envelope. This envelope covers the cells, leaving only an entry hole. In temperate areas, the nest dies during the winter. During this time, lone queens hibernate in insulating material like leaf litter. In the tropics, however, some nests may last all year. At the peak of the population in late summer, a colony can reach 700 workers. The queen then produces reproductive individuals. Fertilized eggs become females called gynes, while unfertilized eggs become males, or drones.
The males leave the nest in autumn for nuptial flights to mate.
Adult hornets have a dual diet consisting of sugars and proteins. They consume nectar and sugar-rich plant foods like sap or rotting fruit.
They often gnaw holes in fruit to reach the pulp. To feed their larvae, adults hunt other insects. They use strong mandibles and venomous stings to kill prey like honey bees or grasshoppers. The adults do not eat the prey themselves. Instead, they masticate the insects and feed the remains to the larvae. This protein-rich diet is essential for the growth of the developing brood.
Hornets are highly defensive and use chemical signals to protect their nests. When threatened, they release an attack pheromone to mobilize the colony.
In the Asian giant hornet (*Vespa mandarinia*), three chemicals work together to increase aggression. These include 2-pentanol, isoamyl alcohol, and 1-methylbutyl 3-methylbutanoate. In the European hornet, the main compound is 2-methyl-3-butene-2-ol. These scents can be triggered by a dying hornet near the nest. Even certain food flavorings, like banana or apple, can trigger an attack. This chemical defense makes a disturbed nest very dangerous to humans.
The stings of hornets can be quite significant due to their chemical makeup. Hornet venom contains a high concentration of acetylcholine, about 5%. This makes their stings more painful than those of typical wasps. Unlike honey bees, hornets do not die after stinging. Their stingers are finely barbed, allowing them to be withdrawn easily for repeated stings.
The toxicity varies greatly between species. The Asian giant hornet is among the most venomous insects in the world. In Japan, its stings are thought to cause 30 to 50 human deaths every year. In China, 42 people died from hornet stings between July and September 2013. While a single sting is rarely fatal to non-allergic people, multiple stings can cause organ failure.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (4)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.