In hindsight, the North American “murder hornet” (Vespa mandarinia) scare of 2020 was probably a bit overblown (not to mention culturally problematic). “Although stomach-content studies had shown that pond frogs sometimes eat hornets, no experimental work had ever examined how this occurs,” Kobe University ecologist Sugiura Shinji said in a statement. To fill in this knowledge gap, Suguira and fellow researchers recently offered all three hornet species (V. mandarinia, V. analis, and V. simillima) to hungry black-spotted pond frogs (Pelophylax nigromaculatus). Frogs attacked and consumed V. simillima, V. analis, and V. mandarinia at a respective rate of 93, 87, and 79 percent. Knowing this, Suigiura theorizes that the pond frogs used in his study may have evolved a double tolerance to both the hornet venom’s pain and toxicity.