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I've always wondered why wasps haven't started to evolve away from stinging humans. Stinging other animals makes sense, it gets the animal to get the heck away

I've always wondered why wasps haven't started to evolve away from stinging humans. Stinging other animals makes sense, it gets the animal to get the heck away from the nest. But sting a human and they're likely to go scorched earth and destroy your entire nest, with prejudice.

fbanon 4y ago
I'd wager that 99% of wasps never encounter humans in their lifetime.
- louthy 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure they're all nesting in my house right now, so I'm not sure that statistic is accurate.
hoseja 4y ago
Evolution works on a ... slightly different schedule.
- spywaregorilla 4y ago
  Not necessarily. You can see evolution much faster than people expect. Especially in quickly reproducing animals. Some traits are evolved to be easier to evolve as well. The ease of change itself is an evolutionary advantage. I wouldn't bet on stingers falling into that category. I would also suspect that wasps stinging humans is still fairly useful and that its disadvantages are basically invisible to the biological processes.
  - technothrasher 4y ago
    > I would also suspect that wasps stinging humans is still fairly useful and that its disadvantages are basically invisible to the biological processes. Yeah, I think that's really the heart of my question. What are the disadvantages of stinging humans (and nesting near them) vs the advantages. You may be right that the disadvantages aren't enough to bring significant evolutionary pressure to bear. My other wasp musing that I've never had answered, is when you destroy a wasp nest, what do the wasps that are "out on patrol" do? Do they form another nest with other stragglers, join another group, or just buzz around until they run out of steam and then die? I would assume it is choice one or three. Choice one seems to make sense if enough of the core group is left, but can just one or two wasps manage to regroup and start over?
    - Epa095 4y ago
      The man killing "my" nest said that they just fly around like lost souls before they die after a while. But who knows, I won't be surprised if it depends on the specie of wasp.
      - technothrasher 4y ago
        > the specie of wasp Now you've sent me down another rabbit hole to see if there were ever any coins with wasps on them. Specie means coinage, not the singular form of species, which is... species. Apparently, yes is the answer to the coin question, but not many.

fbanon 4y ago

I'd wager that 99% of wasps never encounter humans in their lifetime.

louthy 4y ago
I'm pretty sure they're all nesting in my house right now, so I'm not sure that statistic is accurate.

hoseja 4y ago

Evolution works on a ... slightly different schedule.

spywaregorilla 4y ago
Not necessarily. You can see evolution much faster than people expect. Especially in quickly reproducing animals. Some traits are evolved to be easier to evolve as well. The ease of change itself is an evolutionary advantage. I wouldn't bet on stingers falling into that category. I would also suspect that wasps stinging humans is still fairly useful and that its disadvantages are basically invisible to the biological processes.
- technothrasher 4y ago
  > I would also suspect that wasps stinging humans is still fairly useful and that its disadvantages are basically invisible to the biological processes. Yeah, I think that's really the heart of my question. What are the disadvantages of stinging humans (and nesting near them) vs the advantages. You may be right that the disadvantages aren't enough to bring significant evolutionary pressure to bear. My other wasp musing that I've never had answered, is when you destroy a wasp nest, what do the wasps that are "out on patrol" do? Do they form another nest with other stragglers, join another group, or just buzz around until they run out of steam and then die? I would assume it is choice one or three. Choice one seems to make sense if enough of the core group is left, but can just one or two wasps manage to regroup and start over?
  - Epa095 4y ago
    The man killing "my" nest said that they just fly around like lost souls before they die after a while. But who knows, I won't be surprised if it depends on the specie of wasp.
    - technothrasher 4y ago
      > the specie of wasp Now you've sent me down another rabbit hole to see if there were ever any coins with wasps on them. Specie means coinage, not the singular form of species, which is... species. Apparently, yes is the answer to the coin question, but not many.