Saturday 10 August 2024

Where's My Shoe

Apparently the Wasp population is in decline and as someone who has been stung a few times by one of the horrible little buggers i say bloody glad to hear it but according to The Royal Entomological Society, they serve an important services to us Humans so we shouldn't be so keen to usher in a world without the annoying little sods ruining our picnics.
Convince me that i shouldn't squash them with the nearest object to hand before they sting me or target my jam sandwiches i asked and the Entomologist explained that wasps are actually apex predators that kill and dismember prey for their young and have complex and fascinating social lives.
And...i beckoned.
Well, of the 9,000 species of described wasps in the UK, only 9 species sting and the large majority of those that do are solitary wasps that only hunt specific types of prey and perform many important roles in the environment, as natural pest controllers, as pollinators and also in the case of the yellowjacket they are important decomposers.
Ok...Anything else?
Humans have learned a lot from wasps, it was watching social wasps build their paper nests that gave us the idea of making paper from wood pulp.
So they gave us the idea for paper and eat garden pests but otherwise...
They are very social insects with an organised hierarchy and are very much part of our natural eco-system.
Nope, nothing there which makes me change my mind from less wasps...woohoo.   

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