This was in our livingroom. I RAIDed it so hard we had to leave the window open with a fan on for three days for it to air out.
Click the image to view the full-size photograph for detail.
I placed the lighter there for scale, it's a normal disposable lighter like you'd get at any convenience store checkout. If you have a lighter handy, I'd like you to look at it for a moment, and look back at this picture.
THAT WAS FLYING AROUND OUR HOUSE. I came upstairs, walked through the doorway and dodged something huge and black flying at my face. After getting clear to the other side of the room, I got my back to a wall, and looked back into the room. For a moment I saw nothing, and it sounded like there was a helicopter flying by the mountain. Then I saw it flying around. It flew heavily, sluggishly. It didn't seem able to change directions quickly, and elevation appeared laborious. Still, it could fly forward with some speed, and I was wary of its position until we decided what to do about it, which was, of course, to murder it quickly. While we were deliberating, it sounded as though someone were mowing their lawn nearby. It was this thing.
At first it was recuperating on the ceiling, which is pretty high in this room, so I couldn't really reach it with the RAID until Mark knocked it down with a broom, at which point I pressed the button at point blank range and just held it down until the creature stopped moving. Which took awhile. Like ten seconds or something. Slow, mississippi-counting seconds.
I actually stopped before it did, because it was drenched in deadly neurotoxin and wallowing in a puddle of it. I had a facemask on, by the way, 'cause fuck that.
It struggled for a few more long seconds, then finally slowed down, settled, and then STOOD UP, STRETCHED ITS WINGS, and then fell over and curled into the dead-insect position seen in the photo.
Chinese New Year is coming up, which means the next two weeks will be partytime for Taipei apparently. So we went shopping to prepare for a few days of everything being closed.
我的 太太 recently rediscovered our Lonely Planet: Taiwan book, and she and I have decided we need to go to a hotspring. Like soon. Like now.
I'll be subbing or M when he leaves for Europe for February, and after that I hope to implore the boss there for a permanent position if she has one available. Failing that, M may find someplace else to work, sticking the boss at Hart with me whether she likes it or not, but that's all about money and that's boring.
The gift collection for our homies is quite nice by now. I'm looking forward to sending it all. I hope everyone likes their weird crap we got them.
The other day I brought the puppies some food because I want them to grow up all adorable and genki like the adult dogs who bounce around us in circles whenever we leave the house, instead of all scared and skittish like the other ones who flee when we so much as look at them.
OKAY. THIS COUNTRY REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE VINEGAR. We cannot find a fucking pickle in any grocery store we've been to. We find things that claim to be pickles, oh yes! But pickles THEY ARE NOT. They may, perhaps, be "pickled" in the technical definition. But they are SWEET to the taste! Sweet! A pickle is not a candy bar, it is not something children clamor for on All Hallow's Eve. It is a fucking vinegar-and-garlic flavor party and I want a goddamn invitation. I AM ON THE GUEST LIST. Also no pizza.
We got some olives though. They're not like...Mediteranean gourmet blow-your-face-off stuffed with feta and garlic, but they are vingary and they taste good.
6 comments:
Holy crap that is terrifying!
That could be a Vespa mandarinia, or asian giant hornet. It is said to have the most painful sting of any animal on earth, like a hot nail being driven into the flesh. Glad you got it! I think this is pretty cool, though, I am on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Oh my freaking CHRIST that thing is is HUGE. EW. EW. EW.
Good work finding y'know, the good work and everything XD
Also don't forget your birthday is next month!
It's too bad the stinger isn't visible. It had been several days between the time of the murder and the photograph, so I think what happened is that it receded into the carapace as its organs dried and shrunk.
God. Ew.
HOLY JESUS WHAT THE FUCK THAT THING EXISTS!
That is officially the largest bee I have ever seen. I'm glad you killed it before it murdered you in your sleep. Or hell, in your awake. I'm packing a gigantic newspaper for my trip over there.
According to Wikipedia:
The venom contains 5% acetylcholine, a greater concentration than is present in bee or other wasp venoms. Acetylcholine stimulates the pain nerve fibers, intensifying the pain of the sting.
The enzyme in the venom is so strong that it can dissolve human tissue.
Like all hornets, V. mandarinia has a barbless stinger, allowing it to sting repeatedly.
Although a handful of Asian giant hornets can easily defeat the defenses of many individual honey bees, whose small stings cannot inflict much damage against such a large predator, the Japanese honey bee (Apis cerana japonica) possesses a collective defense against them.
When a hornet scout locates and approaches a Japanese honey bee hive it will emit specific pheromonal hunting signals. When the honey bees detect these pheromones, a hundred or so will gather near the entrance of the nest and set up a trap, keeping it apparently open to allow the hornet to enter on its own. As the scout enters the nest, a large mob of about five hundred honey bees surrounds it, completely covering it and preventing it from moving, and begin quickly vibrating their flight muscles. This has the effect of raising the temperature of the honey bee mass to 47 °C (117 °F). The honey bees can just about tolerate this temperature, but the hornet cannot survive more than 46 °C (115 °F), so it dies. Often several bees perish along with the intruder, but the death of the hornet scout prevents it from summoning reinforcements which would wipe out the colony.
Post a Comment