Wasps - Part-time annoying, Full-time important!
- Finn Holmes-Kellett
- Jun 4, 2021
- 2 min read
If you live in the UK, you've no doubt had encounters with these insects. Many people have various names for them, some of them rather strong. Admittedly, you may be among the unlucky number to have been stung. Quite the unpleasant experience! However, our opinions of any species should not simply be based off-of a few rare occasions or stories. Like all living organisms, wasps just want to get by in a challenging world (don't we all?) and have very complex lifestyles once you delve a little deeper! They are thought to be the ancestors of ants and possibly bees as well and may date back to over 90 million years ago, meaning their positive influence on the world around them has been long-felt. They also thought to be able to recognise landmarks and faces, are caring parents, very social depending on the species and some can even make paper!
To start off, there is a very good reason as to why a wasp may be after your beer or ice-cream during the warm Summer months. This is when the worker wasps, usually all female, set out to find sustenance. Adult wasps can only consume sugar, hence why alongside their usual food of nectar, fruit juice and pollen, they will opportunistically aim for alternatives. They are simply trying to gain the energy necessary so that they can continue searching for their primary goal - insect prey to feed to their larvae back at the nest!
(Image by Capri23auto from Pixabay)
Swatting a wasp away is understandable. Many other species do it against irritating stimuli, like horses when they swish their tails to repel flies, or humpback whales when they move their tails sideways to discourage annoyingly curious sea lions. However, in our case, this will make a sting even more likely, angering the wasp by being perceived as a threat. The best thing to do is to simply ignore it and move carefully, maybe even allow it to eat its fill and move on harmlessly.
(Image by Thomas Mühl from Pixabay)
Wasps absolutely matter, a great deal in fact! Wherever they roam, they act as key pollinators for various flower and fruit species, as well as regulate the populations of many species of their insect prey. It is thanks in part to wasps that the ecosystems of the world can remain balanced appropriately if they are left to go about their business and if we can learn to coexist peacefully alongside them, the better life will be for all life on this planet!
(Image by Gabriele M. Reinhardt from Pixabay)
References: (because further reading is important and always encouraged!)
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