Sarthak, this is small cross-section of the large nest. Here is a cell phone image of the nest and my camera to give you a sense of the scale.
The intricate design and colors are not visible in the poor quality cell phone picture above. Further, colors also depend on the light falling on it (or lack thereof). When I made this image the colony had just left the nest a week ago. It was safer for me to go very close. They are extremely dangerous and can cause death. I had Madhav's image below as reference. But I could not get those shades of colors (I was hoping to get them, may be next time). It may be due to white balance of the light and/or changing shades of the nest itself over time.
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Here is a few more images in different light conditions.
Anders, "Why different colors"? I had similar questions. I think it takes a few sorties to complete one band, may be for a single or many hornets. They need to remember the material they used to complete a given band across those sorties. My wild guess is these different materials (hence colors) may provide better structural/camouflage properties. In our reasoning we have written them off by saying "it is all instinct for them" with very little involvement of brain
Here is a small cross section showing structure of the bands
It appears that different colors are due to different base materials that they bring. But I am not very sure and may need detailed study. Or do the hornets mix these materials with some secretions which gives different colors, better bonding and camouflage properties? I really don't know. At the end we will have more questions than answers. We will finally document what we know as "natural history" and wash the rest of mystery and magic under the one word carpet called "Nature" and happily move on
by Ganesh H Shankar on Mon Dec 27, 2021 12:38 pm 
