Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, many of us use the
Speaker 1: words hornet and wasp interchangeably, but that's a vast over
Speaker 1: generalization that doesn't disservice to these winged creatures. Understanding the
Speaker 1: differences between hornets and wasps might help you make better
Speaker 1: pest control decisions, prevent you from killing beneficial species, and
Speaker 1: of course, might keep you from getting a painful sting.
Speaker 1: Here's the biggest thing to know. All hornets are wasps,
Speaker 1: but not all wasps are hornets. We spoke via email
Speaker 1: with Jason Gibbs, Assistant professor of anomalogy at the University
Speaker 1: of Manitoba. He said, hornets are just a kind of wasp.
Speaker 1: Wasp is a very broad term that covers many different
Speaker 1: species with different lifestyles. There are indeed more than one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand species of wasp on Earth, each, a testament
Speaker 1: to the startling diversity in these winged bugs. They're found
Speaker 1: in every part of the world, excep up for polar areas.
Speaker 1: It's usually easy to identify them, as they most often
Speaker 1: have black and yellow stripes, a well defined and narrow waist,
Speaker 1: and a tapered abdomen. Hornets are generally a little chubbier
Speaker 1: and larger than there spelt wasp brethren, and some species
Speaker 1: have white and black markings instead of yellow and black.
Speaker 1: Their increased size means they also carry a substantial load
Speaker 1: of venom, so in some cases these insects are more
Speaker 1: dangerous than other kinds of wasps. Fortunately, if you leave
Speaker 1: hornets and wasps alone, they generally want nothing to do
Speaker 1: with you either. Wasps and hornets cho upwood fragments and
Speaker 1: use the resulting pulp to build their signature papery nests.
Speaker 1: You'll find these nests, which have a honeycomb style segmentation
Speaker 1: on many horizontal surfaces, including roof eaves, garage ceilings, and
Speaker 1: other places, dangling from a single thin thread. Some hornets,
Speaker 1: like the giant European hornet, may also burrow into the
Speaker 1: ground to build nests. Their nests may be as large
Speaker 1: as a foot in diameter. Wasps, like bees, are incredibly
Speaker 1: important pollinators, helping to keep plant life and agricultural crops healthy.
Speaker 1: They tend to chow down on caterpillars and harmful flies, too,
Speaker 1: making them beneficial to humans. That's one reason some places
Speaker 1: like Germany banned people from disturbing these creatures. Wasps also
Speaker 1: exhibit a voracious affinity for sugary foods and drinks, and
Speaker 1: as such, they often make themselves unwelcome guests at outdoor
Speaker 1: gatherings like picnics or sporting events. Furthermore, they also love
Speaker 1: the sweet deliciousness of rotting partially fermented fruit that falls
Speaker 1: to the ground. In autumn, they'll gorge themselves to the
Speaker 1: point that they'll become drunkenly aggressive, sometimes chasing pets or
Speaker 1: people if they feel annoyed or threatened. As their natural
Speaker 1: food sources continue to dwindle in the fall, these insects
Speaker 1: may become even bolder, one reason you should limit easy
Speaker 1: access to human foods that keeps you and the wasps
Speaker 1: safe from harm. While hornets may eat fruit or picnic food,
Speaker 1: they're much more likely to feed on insects like crickets
Speaker 1: and grasshoppers. Wasps are broadly divided into two categories, social
Speaker 1: and solitary species. Social species include paper wasps, yellow jackets,
Speaker 1: and yes hornets, but most wasp species are regarded as solitary.
Speaker 1: Females live alone and reproduce using some notable techniques, including
Speaker 1: laying eggs on other creatures like spiders, which they paralyze
Speaker 1: and hold hostage in their own nests, eventually killing the hosts,
Speaker 1: which then serve as food for wasp larva. Social species,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, live in large colonies and populations,
Speaker 1: often exceeding a hundred members with an egg laying queen,
Speaker 1: as well as workers that do not reproduce, which is
Speaker 1: called a use social nest. Gibbs said wasps and bees
Speaker 1: have evolved social behavior more often than any other group
Speaker 1: of animal, and interestingly, have lost it many times too.
Speaker 1: This behavior has also been recognized in sweat bees Gibbs
Speaker 1: area of Bertise. He said sweat bees are particularly interesting
Speaker 1: for studies of social evolution because there are so many
Speaker 1: back and forths in the evolutionary tree. In fact, you
Speaker 1: can have use social and solitary nests within the same species.
Speaker 1: It's incredibly complex and interesting and wonderfully all of this
Speaker 1: is going on under our noses. Yellow jackets are yet
Speaker 1: another type of social wasps. They're smaller and build ground
Speaker 1: nests that may feature hundreds of individuals. Some people mistake
Speaker 1: these pint size wasps, which have bodies around half an
Speaker 1: inch long for bees As their ground nests expand, the
Speaker 1: soil becomes looser and creeds sinkhole. If you're unlucky enough
Speaker 1: to step into one of these sinkholes, you may find
Speaker 1: yourself at the mercy of hundreds of angry yellow jackets.
Speaker 1: But solitary wasps rarely sting. That's true, even if you
Speaker 1: disturb their nests, they don't attempt to defend them. Social
Speaker 1: wasps and hornets, on the other hand, can be extremely
Speaker 1: aggressive if you threaten their lives or their nests. Often
Speaker 1: they'll swarm intruders and deliver multiple stings. Squatting at wasps
Speaker 1: is shall we say a bad idea. Doing so triggers
Speaker 1: the insect to release pheromones, alerting other wasps to a
Speaker 1: threat you and that it's time to attack. Even one
Speaker 1: wasp sting can be very painful. Multiple stings might cause
Speaker 1: serious harm, particularly to anyone who's allergic to the venom,
Speaker 1: and in worst case scenarios, wasps might sting dozens or
Speaker 1: hundreds of times and act that can kill even strong,
Speaker 1: healthy people who aren't allergic to the venom. The best
Speaker 1: strategy is to keep food covered outside, particularly sugary drinks,
Speaker 1: so that you don't attract wasps. If one wasp flies
Speaker 1: near you, remain calm, it will probably just fly off.
Speaker 1: If a swarm comes near you, run away in a
Speaker 1: straight line without waving your arms. Today's episode were written
Speaker 1: by Nathan Chandler and produced by Tyler Claying. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heeart Radio's How Stuff Works.
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