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