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Hi, people I talk to on Discord have been talking about how much they hate wasps, so I'm here to talk about wasps a little.
We're in the middle of an ecological collapse, with insects highly affected by this, so this "X animal is evil" mentality needs to change.
We're in the middle of an ecological collapse, with insects highly affected by this, so this "X animal is evil" mentality needs to change.
So wasps, right? Everyone talks about how bees are good and wasps are bad, but bees (& ants) are basically just a different type of wasp. Except 'cuz of an arbitrary reason known as "paraphyly", they arn't, apparently. Same reason why birds arn't considered reptiles.
Lets go over some basics; they're insects of the order Hymenoptera & are often striped black and yellow to warn of their stings. Speaking of stings, the stinger is a modified ovipositor (device for laying eggs), meaning all worker wasps (the ones you'll find outside) are female.
One notable feature is the skinny waist. This has to do with the wings beating so fast they produce a lot of heat, so when their hot hemolymph (their blood), flows through the waist, there is a lot of surface area to cool down. It's a masterclass of bioengineering!
While wasps are generally associated with large colonies that feature a queen, but the majority of wasps live solitary lives. The same is true for bees! Solitary wasps can also be parasitic and deal with pest insects.
Another difference between the two is that bees die when they sting. This is because bee stingers are barbed and get caught in our tough skin. When they sting smaller animals, they can get away without tearing themselves in two. Wasps meanwhile don't have barbs on their stingers.
I see a lot of misinformation going around about wasps, such as that they arn't good for anything. The truth couldn't be further from the truth, as they are arguably the most important terrestrial predator, preventing pest insects from overpopulating and surpressing biodiversity.
Another misconception is that they do not pollinate. Many people seem to think only bees pollinate. However, there's loads of different pollinators. Wasps do this, but so do butterflies, beetles, flies, roaches, birds and even some lizards!
There's even plants that 100% rely on wasps! Most notably various fig species that would go extinct without wasps! Figs are also a keystone species that in turn feed 1200+ species of mammals/birds, who would also all die without wasps.
Wasps are also extraordinarly intelligent among insects, being the first invertebrate proven to be able to infer information and apply logic. They can also recognize each others faces, memorize human faces from several angles and learn human schedules.
Even knowing all about how vital they are to the environment and what remarkable animals they are, many people still wish extinction upon them, which is quite selfish. The main reason for this is their depiction within media and people not understanding their body language.
Wasps are often viewed as mean and agressive and "evil", but generally conflict is unknowingly instigated by humans. When they "divebomb" people they are merely inspecting the large creature that a human is.
Trying to swat them away will make them think you're dangerous and out to eat their babies! Did I mention that they're cranky because our ancestors loved to eat their babies? I think that's a pretty good reason to dislike someone.
The wasp at the top of the nest is displaying a threat stance, with its wings in a "V" shaped position. This wasp wants you to back away, don't be arrogant and please respect her.
The other wasps in this picture are calm and not interested in whatever the top one is seeing.
The other wasps in this picture are calm and not interested in whatever the top one is seeing.
Now I'm not going to ask of people to stop being afraid of wasps. Some fear is healthy!
All I'm asking is to give wasps (or any animal in general) a little bit of respect and not to write them off as objectively evil without doing any research.
All I'm asking is to give wasps (or any animal in general) a little bit of respect and not to write them off as objectively evil without doing any research.
Unfortunately, public opinion is molded by media and when more than 90% of all media on wasps echos the image at the bottom, it's not hard to see how they've been receiving so much hatred.
Which is why I'd like to end this threat with a similar, but more scientifically correct image by tumblr user latrodectus-bishopi.
If you actually read through all of this, thank you so much for sticking with me this long and I hope I might have been able to change some viewpoints. Insects are heavily important animals & with how things hae been going, they need any positive press they can get!
