Vespa mandarinia
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), also known as the northern giant hornet, is the world's largest hornet. It is native to temperate and tropical East Asia, South Asia, mainland Southeast Asia, and parts of the Russian Far East. It was also briefly found in the Pacific Northwest of North America from late 2019 but was eradicated by December 2024.
Asian giant hornets prefer to live in low mountains and forests, while almost completely avoiding plains and high-altitude climates. They create nests by digging, co-opting pre-existing tunnels dug by rodents, or occupying spaces near rotten pine roots. The Asian giant hornet feeds primarily on larger insects, colonies of other eusocial insects, tree sap, and honey from honeybee colonies. It has a body length of 45 mm (1+3⁄4 in), a wingspan around 75 mm (3 in), and a stinger 6 mm (1⁄4 in) long, which injects a large amount of potent venom.
V. mandarinia is a species in the genus Vespa, which comprises all true hornets. Along with seven other species, V. mandarinia is a part of the V. tropica species group, defined by the single notch located on the apical margin of the seventh gastral sternum of the male... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Asian Giant Hornet sighting in Hangzhou on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 107th most-seen of the 172 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, June–July and September–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Asian Giant Hornet in Hangzhou on a given day, against under 5% in May, August and December–March, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Asian Giant Hornet sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
10th of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Asian Giant Hornet sightings, Hangzhou ranks 10th at about 10%. The best odds are in Hefei (China, about 30%), Wuhan (China, about 20%) and Nagoya (Japan, about 20%).
Same genus: Vespa
The closest relatives of the Asian Giant Hornet that you can see in Hangzhou (genus Vespa, Hornets) are Yellow-Legged Hornet (about 20%), Black-Bellied Hornet (about 10%) and Bingham's Hornet (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Asian Giant Hornet is recorded against all the insects logged in Hangzhou (7 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
