strong attack on the wasp nest
In the dense forest, a dead frog lies quietly among the dead leaves. Several wasp smelled the food and quickly surrounded it. They found that the frog could not be taken away by their brothers. After some exchange, the wasps decided to fly back to the nest and bring some reinforcements. , but on the treetops where they did not pay attention, a pair of bright pupils had already stared at them.
From the appearance, this guy has black and brown feathers, white marks on his chest, but his head is small and his neck is long. From the side, if it weren't for the fact that there was no rhinoma on his beak and his beak was longer and curved, it would be like a pigeon's head. It is an animal that also appears to be unique among the raptor families - beehawk , also known as honey eagle and star anise eagle.
Beehawk's recipes are very wide. Snakes, rats, frogs and other animals are on its menu. But when it comes to the food it likes the most, that is bees, and whether it is the diligent bees or the vicious husker , it is its favorite. Therefore, after discovering that the frog's corpse attracted the wasp, the beehawk immediately changed its target to the wasp.
However, several little wasps obviously cannot satisfy the appetite of the beehawk, so it did not attack immediately, but locked the wasps tightly with its eyes. beehawk's vision is as good as most raptors. It can easily find the honeycomb hanging on the treetops, but since there is a free "guide", it is also happy to follow.
Several wasps flew between the grass and suddenly disappeared. The beehawk looked closely and found that it was an underground beehive with only one hole exposed. Judging from this posture, he could only attack hard today. Beehawks quickly flew down from the tree and landed next to the entrance of the beehive cave. A large number of wasps were frightened, and the buzzing sound kept warning the invaders to leave quickly.
But the beehawk was not afraid at all, calmly stretched out his claws and started digging the soil. The toes and claw tips of beehawks are different from other raptors. They look short and thick, and are not suitable for catching prey when diving from the air. Instead, they are very suitable for digging soil. Digging the hole in a few strokes. The angry swarm surrounded the beehawks and rushed forward.
Result Beehawk saw that there was such a good thing? directly turned his head and stretched out his beak to peck at the wasps that fell on his body one by one, and kept digging the holes under his feet, as if he didn't take the bee swarm seriously at all. may be annoyed by the noise, and the beehawks also shake their wings from time to time to force the wasps back.
Finally, the entrance of the hole was dug big enough, and the beehawk immediately turned the direction of the attack and stuck his head into the cave. Its slender neck and small head are prepared for this situation. It can go directly into the honeycomb and attack the delicious but without resistance bee pupa .
After a full meal, the beehawk finally withdrew from the cave and spread its wings and flew high, leaving only the destroyed beehives and the angry wasps for a long time.
"Transfer Tiger from the Mountain" Eat honey
In addition to digging pits to attack underground beehives, beehawks will also attack the beehives on trees. However, compared with wasps, there are too many bees living in beehives. Facing thousands of bees, beehawks choose to "take the wit". They will first launch a "feint attack" on the hive, shaking the branches on the hive, or simply sweeping around the hive, angering the hive.
Wait until the bees rushed out of the house, it strategically retreated, leading the bees to fly away, then turned and accelerated, flew towards the unprepared honeycomb, and staged a "scheme to lure the tiger out of the mountain." Beehawks are faster than bees. These bees can only watch them go back to attack the beehive, and use their sharp claws to directly capture a big hole in the beehive. Next is time to enjoy the bee pupa and honey.
Now guarding the empty hive, even if there are some bees attacking it, it will not hurt or itch.After eating, the beehawk will even catch a portion of honeycomb and package it directly.
took the hive away and fed it to the chicks
, and Beehawks have recorded the location of the hive. After that, the bee population recovers, they will "come" again until the hive is completely abandoned and eliminated.
Why are you not afraid of bees attacking?
Why are beehawks not afraid of bees and wasps attacks? In nature, honey and bee pupa are excellent foods, but there are not many animals that can break through the attack of bee colonies and successfully eat these delicious animals. After all, bee stings are really powerful. The black bee colony can stung those guys who intend to steal honey. If they are stung too many times, there is still a risk of death.
But beehawks are not afraid of bee stings. They are covered with tight and firm feathers, and even their heads are covered with hard feathers like fish scales, covering their faces layer by layer, ensuring that no meat will be exposed to be attacked by bees, just like wearing armor all over the body, the stings of bees and wasps cannot penetrate this layer of defense at all.
And the only places they have no feather defense are their feet, eyes and nose. feet needless to say, it is covered with thick cuticle, Beehawk's feathers are just thick, and its claws are thick and hard. , and their eyes have a controllable protective film to prevent attack. The extremely narrow nostrils can prevent bees from attacking the nasal cavity, and there are almost no loopholes on the whole body.
Protective film on eyes
lost its most powerful weapon, and bees have no good solutions to bees and eagles. Some bees will connect to each other head-to-end when the beehawk attacks, creating an illusion that the beehive is constantly getting bigger, but this practice can only scare away some young and inexperienced beehawks. Most of the time, the beehawk will carefully approach and observe and see through the bee's "trick".
Teamwork to break through the killing beehive
Beehawk can attack the wasp's nest head-on, and will also use the trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain to deceive the bee. And when facing the extremely dangerous big tiger-headed bee, the beehawk even showed a sense of teamwork.
The scientific name of the big tiger-head bee is the golden-ringed hornet, also known as the Asian killer bee. It is said that it can sting a cow with three needles. It is extremely toxic. The poisonous needle can even penetrate ordinary protective clothing. Every year, people die due to the sting of the big tiger-head bee. However, it is such a dangerous insect that is restrained by the small beehawk.
Big Tigerhead Bee
Beehawk did not dare to be careless when facing the Big Tigerhead Bee. Instead, he gathered his companions and formed a small group to attack the hives of Tigerhead Bee and continue to harass them. The tiger-headed bees who were harassed many times were dizzy and divided into several groups to chase them, which made the bee colony split and greatly reduced the risk.
Beehawk attacks the tiger-headed bee nest
while holding the tiger-headed bee, while taking advantage of the gaps that attract the tiger-headed bee, dig open the bee nest, enjoy the bee pupa and larvae inside, and flap its wings to stop the adult attack. looks helpless when facing the beehawk who is equipped, tactical, and knows how to work in teamwork.
"modal" raptor
However, although beehawks are invincible in various bees, they also have their own troubles. adult beehawks weigh only about 1 kilogram and are not particularly strong among raptors. Therefore, they are often attacked and preyed by other larger and more fierce raptors, especially young birds that do not have much strength to fight back. In order to protect itself, the beehawk has evolved a relatively special ability in the raptor - mimicry.
Some birds of prey will hide themselves into the environment in mimicry to help them prey better. But the mimicry of the beehawk is another direction. Just like a caterpillar mimicking it into a venomous snake, beehawk will mimic it into other more ferocious birds of predators to scare away predators.
Eurasian guáng
For example, in Holland and Germany, a major threat faced by beehawk guáng is Gohawk . Therefore, these young birds have become more local and more combat-oriented Eurasian guáng to scare away goshawks. In addition, beehawks have many other mimic types, such as black eagles, white-bellied falcons, snake eagles, eagles, etc. This feature of often makes it difficult for people to tell whether a bird that passes through the sky is a beehawk or other raptor.
Beehawk is such a maverick raptor.
Reference
"Crested Beehawk: Raptors of Prey "Whoe comes"" Wang Miao
"Bird of Prey comes to hear "Bee"" Cheng Zui
"Accidentally taken at the zoo: Oriental Beehawk hunts tiger-headed bee"
