Homeostasis

In my recitation for Biology 101 for non-majors this quarter I have been using a lot of youtube videos to demonstrate some of the concepts raised in lecture. For example, one of the key signs of life is that a living organism maintains an internal constancy, known as homeostasis, to efficiently utilize its energy. Some animal behavior associated with this are reptiles sunning to warm up, and dogs panting to cool down and humans using layers of clothing.

In class I used a specific example from Japan, where an enormous hornet, known as the Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa mandarinia), is a native pest of honeybee colonies. The queen hornet starts a colony from scratch and feeds her young with large insects that she kills and carries back to the hive. She, and other adults cannot digest protein. Once fed, the larvae secrete a juice that is high in amino acids and energy, which the adults drink to continue hunting.
When the hive has enough adults, they start pillaging the hives of other species of bees and wasps for their nutritious eggs and larvae. Scout hornets investigate hives and leave a scent marker that tells the rest of the clan that this hive is worth ransacking. Introduced European honeybee hives are susceptible to these hornets because they cannot detect the danger of the visiting scout hornet, as seen in this video.
However, native Japanese honeybees have developed a defense to the hornets where they swarm the scout before it can alert its attack squad. They beat their wings to raise the temperature to 117 degrees Fahrenheit, just 2 degrees higher than the hornet's peak operating temperature, and only 1 degree below their own peak temperature. The hornet cannot maintain its internal temperature with that much heat generated by the bees! You can watch in this video.

We just received some major snow and cold weather in Ohio. We will do our best to maintain our internal temperatures, and I hope the rest of you do the same. Have a good weekend!