A deadly 'murder hornet' was filmed locked in a vicious battle with a mouse twice its size.
And the Asian giant hornet showed just how lethal it is when it killed the rodent with its venom.
Footage, thought to have been captured by a mobile phone, shows a mouse desperately trying to shake off a hornet latched to its side.
The hornet crawls onto the mouse's back and continues to strike with its stinger.
At one point, the mouse manages to jerk away in a last feeble attempt at freedom.
But in less than a minute, the mouse finally conceded and lays dead on the sidewalk.
The Asian giant hornet flies away.
The large insects are normally native to the climates of East Asia where they kill roughly 50 people a year.
But since November 2019, there have been several sightings of the hornets on the west coast of North America.
It is not known how they arrived.
Asian giant hornets are more than double the size of honeybees, and have a wingspan measuring more than three inches.
The insects also have a large stinger filled with venom that contains neurotoxin, which is capable of causing both cardiac arrest and anaphylactic shock.
Beekeeper Conrad Bérubé told The New York Times he was recently attacked by a swarm of the 'murder hornets' on Vancouver Island.
"It was like having red-hot thumbtacks being driven into my flesh,' Bérubé stated, adding that he was left bleeding from the attack.
Bérubé was stung seven times and was lucky to be alive.
Entomologists are concerned that they could kill off bee populations in North America.
The insects are ferocious and can decimate entire beehives in just hours.
Last November, a beekeeper in Washington state found 'thousands and thousands' of his honeybees with their heads torn off.
"I couldn't wrap my head around what could have done that," the keeper stated.
Asian giant hornets nest in the ground for most of the year, but are most active between July and November.
