article_snippet.sent: our honeybees pick off bees as our honeybees leave our honeybees hive until the colony is so exhausted the two-inch-long Asian hornets can move in and ransack the colony.
article_snippet.sent: The hornet has colonised huge swathes of France and, with a few hornets capable of destroying 30,000 bees in just a couple of hours, honey production has plummeted.
article_snippet.sent: One Asian hornet can kill 40 bees in a minute, while a handful can destroy a hive of 30,000 bees in a couple of hours.
article_snippet.sent: a handful build rugby ball-shaped nests in trees, housing some 500 hornets.
article_snippet.sent: a handful scare off intruders by sending a lone worker hornet to 'warn' a handful – if that fails, the workers attack en masse.
article_snippet.sent: Worker hornets have lifespans of 30-55 days.
article_snippet.sent: Groups of Asian hornets hover in front of a beehive, picking off single honeybees, decapitating Groups of Asian hornets and stripping off Groups of Asian hornets wings and legs before making off with the 'meat ball' to feed Groups of Asian hornets young.
article_snippet.sent: In Asia, honeybees have learned to encircle an intruder hornet and, by flapping honeybees wings, cause an intruder hornet to overheat and die.
article_snippet.sent: But the French bees have not had enough time to evolve an effective tactic.
highlights_snippet.sent: Vicious insects mutilate honeybees and prey on beehives to feed young .
  