Northern China is under attack. Which country has attacked China, you might ask? Not a country, but Asian giant hornets have decided to attack humans for the past few months. Since July, people living in the cities of Ankang, Hanzhong and Shangluo in Shaanxi province have been attacked by the hornets and getting seriously injured and killed. More than a thousand people have been bitten by it, and 41 have died.

Medical experts from Shanghai have been sent to the affected areas. Local authorities have been ordered to exterminate the hornet hives in densely populated areas.

This hornet is nearly two inches long (4.5 centimeters long) with a quarter-inch (6-millimeter) stinger. Thousands of them live in a single beehive. Their usual prey are honeybees. Wonder why they have shifted their attention towards humans.

This seems to be an example of the fact that if you push nature for too long, they will push you back. Global warming has caused exceptional rise in making the warm and dry weather in the region this fall which is the usual breeding season for hornets, therefore causing an increase in their number. Excessive buildings and  human settlement into hornet breeding grounds also seems to be the possible reason for the recent flurry of attacks.

We have to stop messing with nature and start protecting our environment.