There is a war going on in nature – murderous Asian hornets are invading honeybee hives, and are decapitating the insects and feeding the bodies to their young.

However, Japanese honeybees have developed a bizarre counter attack that cooks the predators to death.

More than 500 workers bees swarm around the hornets, trapping them in 'hot defensive bee balls'.

The bees then vibrate their muscles to produce friction heat up to 116 Fahrenheit -scorching the hornets within an hour.

Incredibly, the bees can survive temperatures up to 118 degrees, leaving the bees safe while the hornets are cooked to death. 

The giant hornets, which are more than double the size of honeybees and have a wingspan over three inches, are native to East Asia, but are slowly occupying other parts of the world.