Filmmaker Michael Paul Stephenson has worked on a new feature documentary titled ‘Attack of the Murder Hornet.’ This will air as a part of Discovery’s ‘Undiscovered’ on the 20th of February on Discovery+. The Murder Hornets epidemic began in 2019 after the first nest was discovered in Blaine, Washington. The Murder Hornets made life difficult all over the US, especially the Pacific Northwest. With one Murder Hornet’s ability to behead up to 20 bees in a minute, a small group of them can easily take down an entire hive of at least 30,000 bees. This serious threat to honeybees can have detrimental results for everyone, as they are the most essential food crop pollinators.
Who are the people working towards saving the bees?
This documentary features scientists and beekeepers trying to work on a solution to get rid of these hornets. Entomologist Chris Looney is also on this mission to protect US agriculture from further damage. He is joined by Conrad Bérubé, who was the first one to destroy a Murder Hornet nest in the US, beekeepers Ruthie Danielsen and Todd McFall, along with government insect expert Sven-Erik Spichiger. Together, they must find a way to stop queen hornets from starting colonies and creating off-springs. All of this has been especially challenging given the pandemic situation.
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How the hornets are eliminating bees
Beekeeper McFall first found his colony of sixty-thousand bees decimated in 2019 before he decided to help out with the investigation. Hornets kill the bees by biting their heads off, and although most bees are not equipped to fight them off, some have adapted and now use collective strength to kill a hornet. They surround it and keep buzzing, creating such intense heat that it eventually roasts the insect alive. Filmmaker Stephensen has previously worked on films like ‘Best Worst Movie’, ‘The American Scream’ and ‘Girlfriend’s Day’.
