The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), including the subspecies Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia japonica), colloquially known as the yak-killer hornet, is the world's largest hornet, native to temperate and tropical Eastern Asia. They prefer to live in low mountains and forests while almost completely avoiding plains and high altitude climates. V. mandarinia creates nests by digging, co-opting pre-existing tunnels dug by rodents, or occupying spaces near rotted pine roots. It feeds primarily on larger insects and honey from honey bee colonies. Some dimensions of this hornet are a body length of 45 mm (1.8 in), a wingspan of about 75 mm (3.0 in), and stinger of 6 mm (0.24 in) which injects a large amount of potent venom.