Find out more about the difference between hornets and wasps and whether hornets can be driven out or even fought in Germany.
Hornets are generally considered dangerous for us humans. For example, the saying "7 stings kill a horse, 3 stings a man" suggests that hornets are far more dangerous than wasps or bees: but is that true? We'll take a closer look at the hornet in this article.
Even if the majority of Germans think that hornets are particularly aggressive and dangerous, this is just a rumour. In contrast to wasps, hornets are much calmer and more peaceful. Nevertheless, hornets should not be disturbed when foraging or near the nest. Like many other animals, the hornet vigorously defends its own nest. In the following sections you will learn how to distinguish hornets from wasps and whether hornets can be driven out or even fought in Germany.
Hornet or wasp?
When identifying hornets, confusion with the German or common wasp can occur. Because of the size of the hornets, confusion occurs most often with a queen wasp and not with the smaller worker wasps. With a length of up to 2.8 cm, the much larger hornets are significantly larger than a normal wasp with a maximum of 1.6 cm. Only the hornet queen, with a length of up to 4 cm, is significantly larger than the worker hornets.
By the way, there is only one native hornet species in Germany (Vespa crabro). In addition to the size as the most important distinguishing feature, there are also other identifying features on the head of wasps and hornets. For the layman, however, these differences are not immediately apparent, and you would have to get dangerously close to a wasp or hornet to see the differences clearly. For this reason, you should limit your determination to the size of the animals. You will most often encounter hornets in deciduous forests, orchards, riparian forests and parkland.
Hornets under conservation: drive them out instead of killing/fighting them?
Hornets are a valuable yet unique part of our ecosystem. However, due to the destruction of their natural habitats and direct combat by humans, our native hornets are an endangered animal species. For this reason, the hornet has been on the “Red List of Endangered Animals and Plants in Germany” since 1984. In addition, the hornets in Germany are protected by the Federal Nature Conservation Act. Hornets may therefore neither be caught nor killed and it is also forbidden to damage or move a hornet's nest. For this reason fighting is out of the question.
Relocation can only make sense if the nest is in the immediate vicinity of kindergartens, schools or similar buildings. However, a resettlement is always associated with great stress for the hornets and does not always have to be positive. If there is a hornet's nest on your property, you should first ask yourself whether the nest really disturbs you in its place. Because often the hornet's nest is only discovered in summer or late summer, when the number of people living in the nest is highest. But then it is only a matter of weeks before the hornet colony dies out of its own accord. What's more, a young hornet queen will never recolonize an old nest, so there's no need to worry about that either.
If the nest has to be removed, this job should only be carried out by qualified personnel. It is best to contact local nature conservation associations or the responsible nature conservation authority. In any case, a special permit from the nature conservation authority must be obtained before the nest can be removed. In many cases, however, it is quite possible to share the garden with the hornets. They can also serve as voracious pest killers in your garden and are therefore of great benefit.
Although hornets get their bad reputation, many people are afraid of the insects' stings. But how dangerous are hornet stings? You will find the answer in our special article.