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> So what does he say when people tell him they hate wasps. "I just cry." He laughs. "Why don't people already love wasps? They're the lions of the insect world

by danans 7y ago

> So what does he say when people tell him they hate wasps. "I just cry." He laughs. "Why don't people already love wasps? They're the lions of the insect world." Yes, but freak zoo escapes aside, I can mostly avoid lions by staying out of the Serengeti. Jerkish wasps are always trying to get into my beer, especially in the UK - they are really aggressive there.

masklinn 7y ago
> Jerkish wasps are always trying to get into my beer, especially in the UK - they are really aggressive there. Inquisitive is probably a better qualifier than aggressive. In my experience european wasps have low aggression: they're not going to sting you out of nowhere, but they tend to buzz and stay around and investigate pretty much anything that looks edible (foods, drinks, people, …), leading to people trying to swat them, and that's when things get iffier. Even european hornets are not really aggressive, but they're big enough to trigger a more primal terror even in people who are generally fine with insects.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  People who get stung out of nowhere have been swatting the wasp away, or are leaping around trying to avoid them. It's no wonder really. Mind you, most people give the same reaction to bees which are positively docile. People generally seem to find you insane if you don't participate in this swatting and running away business. :) Now if you were drinking your beer right by where a wasp nest happened to be, yeah then there'd be aggression.
  - kaoD 7y ago
    > Now if you were drinking your beer right by where a wasp nest happened to be, yeah then there'd be aggression. That reminded me of my last camping trip this summer. Right as we set up near a fountain and started eating, wasps started to gather around our food (apparently they love blue cheese scent) to the point we had to relocate to be able to eat (they were pretty insistent). We ended up relocating with the sun falling so we missed a wasp nest in a rock about 3 metres away from our tent! We noticed it a couple days later since we stopped caring after not being disturbed by any more wasps. They got out of their nest at high vertical velocity, and it faced away from our tent, so we just weren't in their flight path. A few came to visit, but they stopped gathering around our blue cheese and mostly went hunting near tree roots.
  - coldcode 7y ago
    Africanized Bees in S and N America are anything but docile. Trying running a lawnmower near some.
petre 7y ago
If you ignore them, the common ones will ignore you as well (not your food or beer). Just be careful not to eat one caught in your food or drink. I found out while making wine. Hundreds of wasps foraging for grape sugar. Even some hornets. The hornets are a different story if you get close to their nest (don't).

by danans 7y ago

masklinn 7y ago

> Jerkish wasps are always trying to get into my beer, especially in the UK - they are really aggressive there. Inquisitive is probably a better qualifier than aggressive. In my experience european wasps have low aggression: they're not going to sting you out of nowhere, but they tend to buzz and stay around and investigate pretty much anything that looks edible (foods, drinks, people, …), leading to people trying to swat them, and that's when things get iffier. Even european hornets are not really aggressive, but they're big enough to trigger a more primal terror even in people who are generally fine with insects.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago
People who get stung out of nowhere have been swatting the wasp away, or are leaping around trying to avoid them. It's no wonder really. Mind you, most people give the same reaction to bees which are positively docile. People generally seem to find you insane if you don't participate in this swatting and running away business. :) Now if you were drinking your beer right by where a wasp nest happened to be, yeah then there'd be aggression.
- kaoD 7y ago
  > Now if you were drinking your beer right by where a wasp nest happened to be, yeah then there'd be aggression. That reminded me of my last camping trip this summer. Right as we set up near a fountain and started eating, wasps started to gather around our food (apparently they love blue cheese scent) to the point we had to relocate to be able to eat (they were pretty insistent). We ended up relocating with the sun falling so we missed a wasp nest in a rock about 3 metres away from our tent! We noticed it a couple days later since we stopped caring after not being disturbed by any more wasps. They got out of their nest at high vertical velocity, and it faced away from our tent, so we just weren't in their flight path. A few came to visit, but they stopped gathering around our blue cheese and mostly went hunting near tree roots.
- coldcode 7y ago
  Africanized Bees in S and N America are anything but docile. Trying running a lawnmower near some.

petre 7y ago

If you ignore them, the common ones will ignore you as well (not your food or beer). Just be careful not to eat one caught in your food or drink. I found out while making wine. Hundreds of wasps foraging for grape sugar. Even some hornets. The hornets are a different story if you get close to their nest (don't).