Wasp

[Mart]

Sorry to have hijacked your thread from the outset with my anti-wasp comment...but, in this part of the world, wasps come in a yellow/black livery, but your photo has greenish elements (perhaps it wasn't well before dying).

The wasp was dead alright. I think the colour may not be accurate because of the strong LED lighting it was under. The camera lens is surrounded by LED lights. I think wasps sting for no reason depending on the time of year. I read they feed on aging fruit that has alcohol content. Not a happy drunk but a mean one.

[handrawn]

wasp come in many different species.. but it's a myth that they sting for no reason, they sting either because they feel threatened, or you get in their way... as in, for example, you make deliberate/accidental physical contact, you try to shoo them away from something they want, or you are just that big thing that keeps walking in front of them... to a wasp these are reaasons enough

[Mart]

Wasps come after us when we're eating and drinking. They aren't put off by our presence or the fact that we're actually eating or drinking what they want. It's then that we are in danger of being stung. To a human, that's reason enough to shoo them off or kill them. Both species acting on instinct.

Our family was being pestered by wasps as we were sitting outside eating and drinking. One wasp went into my sandwich bag. It got shooed out. When I went to eat the sandwich, I discovered it had injected its venom into it. One mouthful was all it took to make my mouth sting for the whole afternoon, even though the venom had not been injected. I never got as far as swallowing the mouthful fortunately.

On another occasion of similar circumstances, there were wasps everywhere. I leant on the table (bare armed) not realising a wasp was there. Of course it stung me. My forearm was painful for a week or two after that one.

We had a wasps nest inside a flat roof. I tried to let it go because it was only nature afterall. In the end, we had wasps buzzing around indoors and out. The nest just had to be got rid of.

We can figure out why wasps might come after us (which they do) when we are outdoors but the upshot is they put themselves in our way, rather than the other way around.

If they leave me alone, I'll leave them alone. If they are buzzing around closely for whatever reason, measures are taken. If they come indoors, they mostly end up dead.

[handrawn]

whilst I appreciate that a nest inside/too close to a human habitation has to be dealt with, the assertion:

"the upshot is they put themselves in our way, rather than the other way around"

is looking at it from the point of view that wasps should be subservient to the wishes of humanity, aka they are less important... again, nature may not agree...

the way things are going it might be interesting to speculate which species will outlast the other - one thing is for sure wasps, together with moths and many other insects, underpin a lot of what we take for granted in the way of pollination and pest control for example

live and let live

[Mart]

live and let live

I do if they do ..and no doubt more survive my proximity than don't. Not knowing the mind of a wasp, I can't say for sure but I rather suspect they sting the other species that has got in its way (us) not with the intent of causing some days of discomfort but with the intent of killing it. I wish they had a 'live and let live' attitude. I still think they are a threat.

[iamtheblues]

Wasps are, in my opinion the Bastard Kings of the animal world....Bees I can tolerate, but wasps and hornets deserve the rolled-up newspaper treatment...'shoot and ask questions later', is my motto.

[handrawn]

@bob [iatb] some parts of the world hornets in particular can be 'agressive' [although again that is to attribute to the insect the homo-sap way of looking at things, which is wrong...] - not here though, not sure about sunny spain

@mart it's an instinctive reaction to a percieved threat without any thought for anyone else.... humm bet you know some people like that, know I do....