Alabama Wasps Are Building Nests the Size of Cars
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Well this is completely terrifying.
According to CBS News, “In 2006, over 90 so-called “super nests” — some reaching the size of a Volkswagen Beetle and housing thousands of wasps — popped up in the Yellowhammer State. And this year may be similar, said entomologist Charles Ray.”
“We confirmed two nests in May and have indications of a third,” Ray said in a June post on the system’s site. “This puts us several weeks earlier than in 2006, when we identified the first giant nest on June 13.”
A typical yellow jacket nest is usually found in the ground or a cavity — peaking at around 4,000 to 5,000 worker wasps that don’t make it through the colder winter weather. This causes the queen to leave and create new colonies in the spring when the weather improves.
Milder winters, coupled with an abundant food supply, have allowed some colonies to brave the winter weather and fly into spring with higher-than-usual numbers. The “normal cues” that usually cause queens to disperse may “not happen,” and researchers have even seen multiple queens living in the huge colonies. The phenomenon is called a perennial yellow jacket nest.
Yellow jackets are responsible for nearly all of the stinging deaths in the United States, said entomologist Xing Ping Hu in another Alabama extension post late last month.
“Unlike other stinging insects, yellow jackets like to sting people,” Hu said. “Unlike honey bees, yellow jackets do not lose their stringer, so each insect can sting repeatedly and generally attack in large numbers. They are especially dangerous in the summer.”
