A South Korean Reddit user found a huge, wasp-like insect lying outside in windy, rainy weather with near-freezing temperatures.
Online bug enthusiasts suggested it was a worker Asian giant hornet, an insect that can pose a risk even when cold and sluggish.
Here's what to know
In a post on Reddit's r/WhatIsThisBug, a resident of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, detailed their encounter.
They explained that they found the insect "on a very windy and rainy day, with the temperature around 2°C (35°F)."
They estimated its size at "roughly two joints of an adult man's finger," indicating it was far larger than an ordinary backyard wasp.
Users in the subreddit thought the insect looked like an unusually large worker Asian giant hornet, one of the world's biggest hornet species.
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Workers are smaller than queens, but they can still seem enormous next to the wasps and yellowjackets people are more used to seeing.
Another detail the poster highlighted was the insect's forehead hair, saying that "touching it felt exactly like petting a cat's ear."
More background
Seeing a giant hornet out in cold, wet weather is unusual, but not impossible.
Social wasps and hornets can become sluggish when temperatures drop, and a storm can leave an insect grounded, soaked, or disoriented.
As BBC Future noted, conflicts with wild animals become more likely when habitat disruption, urban expansion, and climate pressures push animals and humans into closer contact.
A single hornet on a rainy day cannot be pinned on any one cause, but human-altered landscapes and increasingly erratic weather can help create the conditions for these uncomfortable encounters.
A grounded insect can still pose a threat.
For anyone with a sting allergy, or for families with children and pets nearby, a large hornet that appears weak or half-frozen may still be dangerous if disturbed.
What can be done?
If you find a large wasp or hornet in cold weather, the safest approach is to keep your distance and avoid touching it.
Cooler temperatures can slow them down, but that does not make them harmless.
If the insect is suspected to be dangerous and is near a home, school, or other busy area, taking a photo from a safe distance and contacting local pest control professionals is usually a better option than trying to handle it yourself.
More broadly, reducing human-wildlife conflict often comes down to how shared spaces are managed: protecting habitat, limiting food waste that attracts insects, and designing urban areas to reduce surprise encounters.
Individual action cannot solve larger environmental pressures, but it can lower the odds of a dangerous one-on-one interaction like this one, in which the insect was neither dead nor harmless.
As the original post stated, "Yes, it was alive! When I poked it, it slowly pushed out its stinger."
Where can I learn more?
Reports of invasive species turning up in new places show how quickly a single unusual sighting can become a public health or ecological concern.
• At the Port of Vancouver, crews intercepted a more aggressive hornet species aboard a ship.
• In the UK, experts warned people not to disturb yellow-legged Asian hornets after a second sighting.
• In Ireland, teams completed a challenging, complex operation to remove an invasive hornet nest.
• In Vietnam, a colossal hornet nest turned out to be part of hornet farming.
Hornet sightings can quickly become safety and ecological concerns. That is why even a cold, slow-moving insect on the ground is still worth treating carefully.
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