A queen hornet from Vespa velutina species stowed away in Chinese pottery arrived in Bordeaux in 2004, leading to the invasive spread of Asian hornets across Europe, decimating honeybees and ecosystems.
From this single nest, up to 500 new queens emerged, resulting in an estimated 500,000 nests in France alone, with the Asian hornet spreading into Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK.
Despite efforts to control the Asian hornet in the UK by the National Bee Unit (NBU), the number of nests destroyed drastically increased from one in 2022 to 73 in 2023, suggesting a growing threat to local ecosystems.
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