Nature is glorious, beautiful and very often fill-your-pants-with-crap terrifying.
Guess which category this video falls into!
https://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1
What you’re seeing is a bunch of bees attacking a wasp that’s invaded their hive. True, they could sting the wasp to death, but considering what total bastards wasps are to bees, that just doesn’t seem pointed enough.
So, instead, they surround the wasp and start contracting their wing muscles. That generates heat, and a lot of them doing it at the same time rapidly drives up the temperature inside the ball. The wasp cooks to death.
Gross, huh? Here’s what it looks like without infrared:
https://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1
If that doesn’t sound like a horrible and unpleasant way to get your ticket punched, consider that this process takes an hour.
Yes, all the wasp can do is sit there and slowly feel the temperature rise.
We’d feel bad, but, hell, they’re wasps.