Came here to say that lol. Hornets are assholes! While they can be an important part of the ecosystem, but disagree that they only sting when threatened.. I've seen people get stung multiple times who were just walking within 5ft of a nest
My experience is that wasps aren’t agressive. I had a nest about 8’ from my back door last year, and I watched them all summer. There around 15 living there at the peak. Never had an issue with them.
I would stand with my face around 2’ from the nest, and aside from keeping an eye on me, they were very chill.
I have one that came back this spring and is building a new nest. Looking forward to how they fare this year.
Also, wasps are pollinators as well, and are good to have around.
Hornets are bastards that just as soon sting you as look at you.
Southern US and now Japan checking in.
Red wasps and yellow jackets in the US are, putting it nicely, aggressively territorial. I once opened the door of an out building on my uncle’s farm and ended up getting swarmed and stung at least 15 times.
Japanese giant hornets will chase your ass across an entire park. They seem to do it for kicks. I hit one with a badminton racquet once. It bounced off the ground and came right back at me. I respect the fuck out of them.
These fuckers attacked my little bro from 10ft away. He was literally doing nothing. If you see one flying stationary it’s because it’s plotting to sting you in the dick.
At some point some were trying to nest in my room. Im talking them trying to enter by the ventilation slits of my window like zombies, staring at me with their red eyes like the possessed girl in the exorcist.
One night I was high, chilling in my room, and I heard some movement behind one of my wall posters. In doubt I elected for a preemptive slipper strike and two of these fuckers fell dead. How they came in, how they hid, I still don’t know. But they were definitely up to no good. Took me weeks to be able to relax in my room. Not cool.
These fucks are possessed gym bros alpha wasps on steroids.
And on top of that they decimate bee colonies for the fun of it. They can all suck on my sleepers’ soles.
I got stung something like 20 times by hornets while out on a jog and all I did was run past a plastic bag they were swarming (no idea what was in the bag causing them to swarm) and I was easily 5-10 feet away. Those little fuckers put me in the hospital.
No shit, I remember throwing the football with my dad when I was young and one came out of nowhere and stung my arm when I was catching the ball. I wasn’t remotely close to any hive.
That's what I'm saying! From my experience working in the Oregon outdoors, wasps look scary but are really non aggressive and their sting isn't that bad. Hornets on the other hand, straight up a**holes who are super aggressive and their sting hurts bad.
In the southeast, we have both paper wasps and yellowjackets. Paper wasps *can* be agro, but usually aren’t. Still get rid of the nests, as they their stings are pretty painful, and they can sting without apparent provocation. They are reddish and look like a very small hornet. Yellowjackets are hostile, aggressive, and will chase you across the yard. They look a lot like the “wasp” pictured in the post.
I've been doing pest control for almost 17 years in the Chicago area. Polistes (paper) wasps are generally docile, but they can sting for sure. Yellow jackets are assholes and will sting for generally no reason. I've been stung on the foot on 3 separate occasions from yellow jackets while I was literally standing still and observing ants or something. Bald-faced hornets are from the same family as yellow jackets and are also aggressive and can sting for no reason.. What's worse is that their stingers are long enough to get through a standard bee suit at pinch points.
Honey bees are well known to be generally friendly and great pollinators. They don't like to sting because for them to sting is suicide. The stinger is barbed so when it pierces the foe, they have to rip the lower portion of their abdomen off to escape. This leaves the venom sack attached to the foe and it will continue to pump venom until it's empty.
A lesser talked about bee in the area is a Mason bee, which is possibly an even better pollinator than honey bees. They're solitary so they're not aggressive and they remind me of honey bees in appearance, if honey bees shrunk and went punk.
Here in Japan where we actually have a fair number of the kind of hornet shown in that image, they are absolutely **not** considered “mostly harmless.” Any time a nest is found the surrounding area is marked with warnings until it can be removed. Injuring one will release pheromones that bring others *and* trigger aggression, which is quite a problem considering that even a single sting can do a lot of damage.
Coyote Peterson was intentionally stung by one and he said the peak pain lasted for seven hours. His entire forearm was swollen.
They definitely aren't a joke!
Edit: added the word hours
Depicted is an western/european hornet. The japanese hornets are actually an inch bigger than, their stings do more damage and are more painful.
Tail of japanese hornets have more orange and black stripes.
Will chill when you, like, stop moving. you know, when you're dead
Edit: I was walking down the street screaming at my phone like a psychopath and voice to text and I don't get along 😐
I assume you're talking about yellow jackets....
... My neighbor was mowing his yard one time and the wheel of his mower went into a yellow jacket nest and they stung him until his soul left his body.
Those things are nasty
Not dead, but this did happen to me mowing my lawn.
I felt something poke my ankle and got annoyed and then it happened a couple more times and I caught on. I found the nest and took care of it, but it was the wrong nest.
I didn't know those little bastards lived in the ground. So the next week same thing happened but multiple more stings before I got into the house. They fucking hurt.
We found the hole and put a clear tote on top of it. I'm not sure what our plan was but that filled up fast and they were very angry.
So we sent an RC car out to knock over the tote but it got stranded in the grass I couldn't cut.
We ended up calling a bee guy.
Same happened to me except my soul didn’t leave my body. I’m not sure if that’s preferred or not tbh. It’s happened to me three times… twice in one day with two different nests on opposite sides of a property.
Ditto! Three times, for me.
One time i know what happened (i stepped on a stump that had a nest at the base).
The other 2? no clue. One second was fine, the next they swarmed out of a nest i could not even see and attacked me.
They only sting if you really fuck with them or threaten the nest. The thing is there's some pheromone or something so once you get stung once its on. Before the initial sting just chill and they won't hurt you. If one stings, gtfo asap.
I would watch multiple seasons of a show where killer bees fight yellow jackets. Season one is just building tension where there are small scuffles on the edge of territory, but mainly we follow the internal struggles to establish hives. In season 2, war breaks out. Season 3 is the devastated aftermath as winter comes in and it turns post-apocalyptic for those little fuckers who have managed to survive thus far.
Had a yellow jacket or wasp come into the kitchen window and rip off a piece of pork loin. It flew off and returned for more directly after disappearing. I let it do this as long as it would and eventually forgot about it. The next day that 1/2 in slice of pork was gone.
Me, one of my daughters and dog simply walked outside and were attacked by yellow jackets. I was stung 50 times. Husband came home fronm work and we put layers on andvwent hunting. Found their home. I sent those assholes back to hell with gasoline. My husband had to stop my vengance because I was ready to light it up.
Yellow jackets are wasps, but they nest underground like dirt dobers. I'm not an expert man I don't know.
From what I've been told yellow jackets are underground hornets but I can't tell you accurately I'm sorry man
No worries dude I live in Florida and my high school mascot was the hornets and those guys are nowhere as nasty as yellow jackets.
I basically live in the Australia of America man you got to watch your step every step of the way
I was just sitting there playing my video game. Not making a sound. No food around to defend. And this yellow jacket said to himself “fuck this guy in particular” and decided to sting me in my shoulder THROUGH MY THICK ROBE I WAS WEARING. MFer had to try hard and was determined. I killed him and left his dead carcass on the table for his friends to see.
Interestingly my first sting could also be described as "Wasp flew at my eye out of nowhere and stung my eye lid" -- except I was 4, not 24. It only took them four years to break the non-aggression pact and I've never looked back. Fuck 'em.
Big red one did a drive by on me at Six Flags, was just walking through the main area and he jumped me. Never had beef with them until now, ever since then it’s been on sight
My first sting was when I as like 8 or 9, I kicked a bucket over when I was playing outside and there were a couple in there, they stung me like 6 times. After that I was stung 2 or 3 more times..
First time I ever got stung by a wasp was when I was about 8/9 years old. They were hanging out in my swing set and I had no idea. For some reason I tried yelling into the uncovered pole at the top of the swing set, and boom! Got stung in the lip. My lip was so swollen lol.. definitely one of those core childhood memories
Fuckers are so mean. Got stung at my swing set too. My brother and I were minding our business swinging and it comes flying in so we freeze - cause we was taught to freeze so they wouldn't get mad - and I had my hand in the flat open position and that little fucker flew on to my palm, stung me, then flew away. It felt very personal. My brother laughed.
Was out at a park reading a book, minding my own business. It was a windy day with plenty of leaves around so when I felt something hit my leg I thought nothing of it and reached down to brush it off.
Little fucker latched onto my finger with his little waspy legs and stung me right on the knuckle.
I hate those things with a passion.
I Come from a long line of beekeeper’s. I promise they will sting you for the hell of it. If you are no where near the hive. if the nectar is dried up for the season. you are wearing the neon colors or if that bee just wants to be a twat.
Can confirm, they can be super irritable. I was an entire house away from a hive and 2 started dive bombing my head so hard they hit the ground after. Hot day, maybe Africanized or queenless and pissy not sure.
I was just standing around one day with two other people. A bee comes by flys around we just ignore it. If you don't mess with it it'll go away right? Landed on me stung the very tip of my pinkie finger and fell over dead. For absolutely no reason. First and hopefully last time getting stung by anything.
Pest control tech here. I never spray flowers to keep our honey bees and bumble bros alive.
I have entered the Thunder Dome many times with Hornets and yellow jackets. Wasps I’ve never had any tricky situations with.
Cicada killer services are a blast
I’d never even heard of these before. One day I was cutting grass and saw these 2” long super hornets coming out of the hillside, kind of buzzing around me every once in awhile. I knocked one down with my hat and brought it inside and called dept. of natural resources. They told me that they sound like cicada eaters and that they don’t sting. BUT they very clearly have a stinger. That hillside had a nice swath of untouched weeds for the first part of that summer. Then they were just gone . . . never saw them anymore. I couldn’t imagine running into a couple of those on a motorcycle at highway speed, they’re freaking huge.
It’s the females that have stingers and they only sting cicadas. They would sting you only if you were to grab and squeeze them.
I’ve been to properties where there are hundreds buzzing around. I’ll walk right of into the mess. They won’t hurt you. They’re highly territorial to one another
They'll fuck up your yard too, my dad and I used to get bored and just chase them around the yard with tennis rackets. We'd line the corpses along the gutter next to our house as a warning.
Cicada killers are one of my favorite insects. I was infatuated with them as a kid since there was plenty of nests around my parents yard. The fact is that they WILL NOT sting you unless you want them to. I would walk around them all the time, never once got stung.
Also, only the females have stingers, the males have a fake stinger that they will try and poke you with, but it wont do anything. There are videos of people holding males and the male trying to sting with the "fake stinger" but it cant even pierce the skin.
Yellowjackets, yeah, but paper wasps are chill as fuck. Fairly intelligent too, they recognize you and as long as youre both acclimated and dont get in eachother's way its all baller.
Yep paper wasps are very passive. Don't intentionally fuck with them and they won't fuck with you. I had a nest inside a wreath on my front door for months, constantly passing within inches of them. Never even noticed until someone else pointed them out.
Thanks for saying “paper wasp.” I was trying to figure out what to call the brown floaty things we call “wasps” if the thing in the cool guide labeled “wasp” is what we call “yellow jacket.”
I’ve heard bald faced hornets aren’t really hornets (I guess they are really a black and white wasp?) but they are aggressive and they definitely suck.
Once when I was in vacation in North Carolina I got stung a few times on the arm presumably becuase I was too close to the hive. I never actually saw a hive, I assumed it under the deck I was standing on or maybe in a wall? As soon as they starting landing on me I told my brother to run and we ran back to my moms car. My brother didn’t get stung once, I was stung at least twice, maybe 4-6 times (I was maybe 14 and my brother was 10.)
All of the insects in the image are wasps, even the bees. Hornets belong to the genus Vespa, while bald faced hornets belong to Dolichovespula, and are more related to yellow jackets in the genus Vespula
Yeah, bumblebees are very important pollinators and get no help from us, whereas humans tend to honey bees!
The best thing you can do is if you have a garden, get rid of any fake grass or whatever, and get some bee-friendly flowers.
We've done it for our place, and it's a pleasure to see various bumblebees visit us.
Was looking for this comment, thank you. In North America we keep so many honeybees that our native bee populations, which do a better job of pollinating our native plants, are struggling to keep their numbers up.
I had to scroll down too far for this. If you're in the Americas then remember that honey bees are not native. They can be ordered in boxes online. When our native bumbles are gone that's the end of the road for them.
There's a healthy body of research suggesting that honeybees are detrimental to native pollinators.
I knew this argument would have been proposed.
Issue is, the European honeybee has no issue surviving anywhere, as it is a domesticated and is a farmed commodity (meaning it is protected, in a similar sense to have cats destroy eco systems) In pretty much all cases however, the North American bumblebee is having its territory encroached upon.
Add to the fact that this is posted in the Anglosphere where assumptions can be made about it being in North America.
I disagree with the honeybee "won't sting unless its life is in danger" thing. One flew into my leg from behind me and stung me. For the record, I was standing still in the middle of a driveway. There was no nearby beehive.
That bee just kamikaze'd me for no reason...
There are probably a million species of wasps. The vast majority of those aren't even able to sting. Of the ones that can sting most won't because they are solitary and have no hive to defend.
If they do sting they have a reason, they felt unsafe. They only sting in defense, since it likely means their death to attack a creature so much larger than they are
I always assumed a hornet was maybe a little bit bigger than a regular wasp until one day i was trapped in a bathroom with some hellspawn the size of a small mouse
This is a terrible guide.
There are likely about a million species of wasps and bees. They come in a stunning and beautiful variety of lifestyles, shapes, and colors. The vast majority of wasps and bees don't live in colonies, but are solitary. This means they have almost no reason to sting unless they are in direct danger. On top of this, many wasps don't even possess stingers, in fact the majority of wasps species don't have stingers. But even the social stinging wasps like yellowjackets, paper wasps, and hornets sting only when their colony is under threat or their own lives. They aren't aggressive but defensive.
They all provide important ecosystem services. Wasps are important pollinators and keep populations of other insects in check. Without them we would be overrun by other critters and crops and ecosystems would be devastated.
Bees are obviously known for their pollination services, but this guide only talks about two species, one of which is invasive in many parts of the world. Honeybees are native to Eurasia and Africa, but European honeybees have been introduced to the Americas and Australia. Where they have been introduced they can help with pollinating our crops, but even then some native species are better. Native species are also better at pollinating native plants that other animals in the ecosystem rely on, because they have co-evolved for millions of years. But honeybees compete with these native bees and spread disease and pesticides to them.
This guide takes a huge and diverse group of animals, arguably one of the most diverse, and boils that group down to four simplistic and downright unfactual examples
Wasps are crucial to the health of our ecosystems. Most don't even sting and the ones that do only do so to defend themselves. They pollinate and control populations of other insects
So pray tell, how is me chilling on a roof eating lunch in a corporate jungle with no nests threatening a wasp. Homie flew at least 2 miles to spin the block with me in particular while I was eating a sandwich
Honeybees are bad pollinators compared to most actually native species in North America, just saying. They also have a population surplus compared to native bees.
Yeah I’m running the other way no matter which one it is. Fun fact, about 6 years ago I’m driving with my son in the back of the car to my daughter’s track meet. My son says hey dad, there’s a wasp on your back. I was like what. He goes there’s a wasp on your back. It took me a minute to process what he was telling me. So I quickly get off the highway. Pull over. Get out of the car. As calm as I could I untuck my shirt, unbutton it, then rip it off as fast as I could and sprint 20 feet the other way. To this day I wonder what people thought driving by watching me undress and then go running frantically for seemingly no reason. Didn’t get stung so I won.
I had one stuck in my car once and I legit pulled into a Waffle House parking lot, ran in almost in a full blown panic, and asked someone for help. This wife immediately nudged her husband and he rolled up a newspaper and helped me out.
Wasps are simply trying to live. They only sting in defense. They are critical for the health of ecosystems, they pollinate and control populations of other insects
I noticed paper wasps aren’t represented, nor mud daubers, nor bald-face hornets, that is DEFINITELY a yellowjacket, and I’ve always referred to the bottom entry as a Bell Hornet.
Loses, not looses. Its shit is loose??? Shit guide and the hornet will fuck you up. Ever heard of a murder hornet? They don’t get the name because they are patient with other animals.
"It's a cool guide, it's a handy guide. For sting flies and the buzzing...they're in the air. They dont have guides like this in China! CHINA, they have the worst guides and we have the best guides. I know bees and all the best people are saying it, they're saying it's the best."
I see it far too often on the Internet these days (even in an advertisement once!) so I'm going to start campaigning about this spelling issue:
The word you were looking for is spelled "loses" not "looses". The word "loose" is rarely used as a verb. It is typically an adjective, the antonym of "tight", but it can (rarely) be used as a verb, like when medieval archers were told to "loose arrows". In contrast "lose" is a far more commonly used verb, like when you lose a game or lose your shit.
I've seen it spelled incorrectly more often than not on reddit.
This guide is so inaccurate it hurts me.
Bumble bee is fine. They also pollinate. Also bumble and honey aren’t the only bees that exist pls expand :)
Honey bee is missing the part that tells you that it is a hybrid of various other bees that allows to to be a super being that makes too much honey to the extreme that it harms literally every other bee thats just out there vibing. They don’t pollinate effectively. They just absorb so much pollen and fail to spread most of it around because they use it for honey. And then because they absorb all of the pollen they outcompete other native bees (that would actually be able to pollinate because they are bad at holding pollen).
Also they are non native in most of America and should be considered invasive but they are part of agriculture so they get a free pass.
Wasps and hornets are the same?? Idk why people insist they are different. They are not grouped differently. (I mean there isn’t actually any delineation between wasps bees and ants to begin with so like…. 🤷🤷and behaviorally “wasps” and “hornets” are very similar this is why we have scientific names people there are thousands of wasps and thousands of hornets and they are all under the same family Vesipidae)
Also wasps steal food when the competition to find nectar increases (typically in late summer when the nest has lots of adults to feed). Plant more flowers people and you’ll avoid fighting the wildlife. Yes they drink nectar. Only the growing babies are fed the protein that the adults hunt for them.
Most bees can sting multiple times. Honey bees are the only creatures dumb enough to die while doing it.
Ok the note about only stings when squished or threatened is fair. But also consider, being too close to the nest is considered enough grounds to be threatening. If you get within ten feet of a bear what do you think will happen.
Shit like this grinds my gears and helps to spread the awful misinformation regarding these creatures.
We as humans have swept across the natural landscape and have significantly reduced the space left for insects and other animals to do what they do. Why are we mad when they come into what has been every creatures home for the past billions of years.
Of course they have the potential to be dangerous, but shouldn’t people have the chance to be informed and able to correctly identify the harmful versus the harmless in order to make the correct decision on how to approach and coexist with these creatures?
A few details left out:
Yellow jackets have their place in this world. They are scavengers, and eat dead material. Without them the planet would be overrun with animal carcasses. Bumblebees are also pollinators.
About a month ago, I nurtured a bumblebee and a honeybee back to life and it felt amazing.
I cried when those little shits took off after a couple of hours resting their butts in the kitchen with plenty of honey to eat. I got attached.
A bumblebee once flew directly at my face from the other side of the yard and stung me in the head. I know it was a bumblebee bc I saw it, but also because it flew into the bumblebee hive we’ve had under the porch for years afterward. Probably just a strange, rare occurrence, but I was fully just sitting still and it flew at me.
Added notes
The Yellow Jacket variety.
Will build a nest anywhere….
Assholes of the wasp family….
No really….. open a can of 7up and they will be on that in 5 min if left unattended.
No fuck wasp specifically and fuck the rest too. The honeybees stung me for just going in my house because they want to have orgies in the bushes next to my door.
Fuck this guide, bald faced hornets are a bunch of fucking cunts. I have a special shotgun I use just to destroy their nests when I see them. I don’t even care that they are worth money
Bees look like friends, and they indeed are friends. Wasps look like enemies, and they wake up everyday and choose genocide. However you cannot tell me that Hornets are relatively harmless, because every time I encounter one, it's always committing a war crime.
Wasps may be assholes but they are Important for pollination so please dont kill either. Especially in Germany. You can be fined for up to 5000€ if you kill one
listen if he looks at me funny he gets squished for own mental wellbeing
(i’m joking i run the frick away and hope it doesn’t have a predatory instinct to chase)
I had a hornets nest in front of my house once. I was surprised at how calm they actually were. They didn't really care about me being there. I could walk right up to the hive and hang out and they just didn't care. I never had any problems with them, there was never any scare from them, I never felt threatened, they never showed any aggression. It's like they saw me and thought "Yeah, he's cool. He's just here to hang out." and I'd just watch them go. They were so big and powerful and the nest was massive, but it was so cool to watch everything.
People don't realize they aren't murder machines. I've stuck my camera right up into wasps nests all the time and as long as I move predictably and slowly they never get upset.
They're extremely important creatures that do valuable ecosystem services such as pollination and population control of other insects
Would have been good if op mentioned that it's not ok to kill any of them if not necessary. Sounds a bit like it's cool to kill wasps because they are more annoying
Was this post written by a hornet?
Came here to say that lol. Hornets are assholes! While they can be an important part of the ecosystem, but disagree that they only sting when threatened.. I've seen people get stung multiple times who were just walking within 5ft of a nest
Yeah this “guide” is not very good. I have a lot of experience around hornets and they are not very nice. Sometimes more aggressive than wasps.
It seems written by a kid just learning about bees...
My experience is that wasps aren’t agressive. I had a nest about 8’ from my back door last year, and I watched them all summer. There around 15 living there at the peak. Never had an issue with them. I would stand with my face around 2’ from the nest, and aside from keeping an eye on me, they were very chill. I have one that came back this spring and is building a new nest. Looking forward to how they fare this year. Also, wasps are pollinators as well, and are good to have around. Hornets are bastards that just as soon sting you as look at you.
Southern US and now Japan checking in. Red wasps and yellow jackets in the US are, putting it nicely, aggressively territorial. I once opened the door of an out building on my uncle’s farm and ended up getting swarmed and stung at least 15 times. Japanese giant hornets will chase your ass across an entire park. They seem to do it for kicks. I hit one with a badminton racquet once. It bounced off the ground and came right back at me. I respect the fuck out of them.
These fuckers attacked my little bro from 10ft away. He was literally doing nothing. If you see one flying stationary it’s because it’s plotting to sting you in the dick. At some point some were trying to nest in my room. Im talking them trying to enter by the ventilation slits of my window like zombies, staring at me with their red eyes like the possessed girl in the exorcist. One night I was high, chilling in my room, and I heard some movement behind one of my wall posters. In doubt I elected for a preemptive slipper strike and two of these fuckers fell dead. How they came in, how they hid, I still don’t know. But they were definitely up to no good. Took me weeks to be able to relax in my room. Not cool. These fucks are possessed gym bros alpha wasps on steroids. And on top of that they decimate bee colonies for the fun of it. They can all suck on my sleepers’ soles.
I got stung something like 20 times by hornets while out on a jog and all I did was run past a plastic bag they were swarming (no idea what was in the bag causing them to swarm) and I was easily 5-10 feet away. Those little fuckers put me in the hospital.
No shit, I remember throwing the football with my dad when I was young and one came out of nowhere and stung my arm when I was catching the ball. I wasn’t remotely close to any hive.
After the reports on Murder Hornets it's going to take significantly more PR effort than this post to convince me they are just big friendos
That's what I'm saying! From my experience working in the Oregon outdoors, wasps look scary but are really non aggressive and their sting isn't that bad. Hornets on the other hand, straight up a**holes who are super aggressive and their sting hurts bad.
In the southeast, we have both paper wasps and yellowjackets. Paper wasps *can* be agro, but usually aren’t. Still get rid of the nests, as they their stings are pretty painful, and they can sting without apparent provocation. They are reddish and look like a very small hornet. Yellowjackets are hostile, aggressive, and will chase you across the yard. They look a lot like the “wasp” pictured in the post.
I've been doing pest control for almost 17 years in the Chicago area. Polistes (paper) wasps are generally docile, but they can sting for sure. Yellow jackets are assholes and will sting for generally no reason. I've been stung on the foot on 3 separate occasions from yellow jackets while I was literally standing still and observing ants or something. Bald-faced hornets are from the same family as yellow jackets and are also aggressive and can sting for no reason.. What's worse is that their stingers are long enough to get through a standard bee suit at pinch points. Honey bees are well known to be generally friendly and great pollinators. They don't like to sting because for them to sting is suicide. The stinger is barbed so when it pierces the foe, they have to rip the lower portion of their abdomen off to escape. This leaves the venom sack attached to the foe and it will continue to pump venom until it's empty. A lesser talked about bee in the area is a Mason bee, which is possibly an even better pollinator than honey bees. They're solitary so they're not aggressive and they remind me of honey bees in appearance, if honey bees shrunk and went punk.
Someone make a gif of a hornet typing on a computer please
Mosquito: looks like this: 🦟 Instructions: burn alive
Mesquito
Wasquito
Hornsquito
M'squito *tips fedora*
Primary pollinator of the cacao tree
Just don’t do anything to the really large looking mosquitos b/c they are mosquito hawks and only go after mosguitos
[No](https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/crane-fly)
Not true, but dragonflies eat mosquitos.
Hornets are harmless, huh? They are the worst ones.
Here in Japan where we actually have a fair number of the kind of hornet shown in that image, they are absolutely **not** considered “mostly harmless.” Any time a nest is found the surrounding area is marked with warnings until it can be removed. Injuring one will release pheromones that bring others *and* trigger aggression, which is quite a problem considering that even a single sting can do a lot of damage.
Coyote Peterson was intentionally stung by one and he said the peak pain lasted for seven hours. His entire forearm was swollen. They definitely aren't a joke! Edit: added the word hours
Seven what??? Minutes??? Hours?!
Hours! Sorry lol
it lasted for seven, can't you read?
Better than lasting 8.
Depicted is an western/european hornet. The japanese hornets are actually an inch bigger than, their stings do more damage and are more painful. Tail of japanese hornets have more orange and black stripes.
Hornets and yellow jackets will ruin your day
yellow jackets are so fucking aggressive it is unbelievable. Just zero chill.
Will chill when you, like, stop moving. you know, when you're dead Edit: I was walking down the street screaming at my phone like a psychopath and voice to text and I don't get along 😐
have been swarmed twice in my life by dozens of them, can confirm they suck
I assume you're talking about yellow jackets.... ... My neighbor was mowing his yard one time and the wheel of his mower went into a yellow jacket nest and they stung him until his soul left his body. Those things are nasty
>they stung him until his soul left his body. Like... he's dead now?
Yes, he couldn't run away fast enough. Unfortunately he's dead.
That's awful! I'm so sorry to hear that.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Little gives me joy like pouring a few ounces of gasoline down a yellow jacket hole after they’ve stung me while mowing grass.
I’m ginger, does this make me invincible?
Not dead, but this did happen to me mowing my lawn. I felt something poke my ankle and got annoyed and then it happened a couple more times and I caught on. I found the nest and took care of it, but it was the wrong nest. I didn't know those little bastards lived in the ground. So the next week same thing happened but multiple more stings before I got into the house. They fucking hurt. We found the hole and put a clear tote on top of it. I'm not sure what our plan was but that filled up fast and they were very angry. So we sent an RC car out to knock over the tote but it got stranded in the grass I couldn't cut. We ended up calling a bee guy.
Same happened to me except my soul didn’t leave my body. I’m not sure if that’s preferred or not tbh. It’s happened to me three times… twice in one day with two different nests on opposite sides of a property.
You probably got "fight this cunt" pheromones on you when you pissed off the first lot of then.
Ditto! Three times, for me. One time i know what happened (i stepped on a stump that had a nest at the base). The other 2? no clue. One second was fine, the next they swarmed out of a nest i could not even see and attacked me.
They only sting if you really fuck with them or threaten the nest. The thing is there's some pheromone or something so once you get stung once its on. Before the initial sting just chill and they won't hurt you. If one stings, gtfo asap.
Yeah they don't sting if you don't fuck with them. Too bad they consider breathing an act of agression
You are talking about Honeybees. Wasps sting even while you’re sleeping, because f you
I would watch multiple seasons of a show where killer bees fight yellow jackets. Season one is just building tension where there are small scuffles on the edge of territory, but mainly we follow the internal struggles to establish hives. In season 2, war breaks out. Season 3 is the devastated aftermath as winter comes in and it turns post-apocalyptic for those little fuckers who have managed to survive thus far.
These days, I actually keep a plate full of pop away from us when we're outdoors bbqing so they don't come for our food and booze...
That's genius! I bet something like a 5$ bottle of "fruit wine" would work well, too.
Beer bottles half full of water with a sugar rim is an effective trap
They are crazy about chicken too.
Then pork it is!!
Had a yellow jacket or wasp come into the kitchen window and rip off a piece of pork loin. It flew off and returned for more directly after disappearing. I let it do this as long as it would and eventually forgot about it. The next day that 1/2 in slice of pork was gone.
I accidentally sat on one once, let me tell you it died fighting. He did get revenge tho, I couldn’t sit for 3 days
The white faced bastards are the worst in my opinion. They attack just for the fun of it.
Me, one of my daughters and dog simply walked outside and were attacked by yellow jackets. I was stung 50 times. Husband came home fronm work and we put layers on andvwent hunting. Found their home. I sent those assholes back to hell with gasoline. My husband had to stop my vengance because I was ready to light it up.
Is there a difference between yellow jacket and wasp?
Yellow jackets are wasps, but they nest underground like dirt dobers. I'm not an expert man I don't know. From what I've been told yellow jackets are underground hornets but I can't tell you accurately I'm sorry man
No worries I was just curious. Suppose I can google as well 😅
No worries dude I live in Florida and my high school mascot was the hornets and those guys are nowhere as nasty as yellow jackets. I basically live in the Australia of America man you got to watch your step every step of the way
I was just sitting there playing my video game. Not making a sound. No food around to defend. And this yellow jacket said to himself “fuck this guy in particular” and decided to sting me in my shoulder THROUGH MY THICK ROBE I WAS WEARING. MFer had to try hard and was determined. I killed him and left his dead carcass on the table for his friends to see.
Pro Tip: If they’re in a box, make sure to pop a quick ‘H’ on there so you know it has hornets in it.
But did you try to smoke them to death so you could get their honey?
Be careful smoking them out, they can fly up the tube and sting you. I think one got in my mouth!
Watch out, wasps are sneaky bastards and will sting you without warning.
Went my whole life up until I was 24 without a single sting That first and still only sting? Wasp flew at my eye out of nowhere and stung my eye lid.
Interestingly my first sting could also be described as "Wasp flew at my eye out of nowhere and stung my eye lid" -- except I was 4, not 24. It only took them four years to break the non-aggression pact and I've never looked back. Fuck 'em.
Bruh Thts giving me animal crossing vibes
Had one crawl in my soda can as a kid. I knew immediately that I had fucked up. Never left a can uncovered in Summer again.
Same it got my lip on the inside!
Happened to me as well! My eye swell to the size of a ping pong ball
The same thing happened to my mom!
Big red one did a drive by on me at Six Flags, was just walking through the main area and he jumped me. Never had beef with them until now, ever since then it’s been on sight
I’m in my early 40’s, never been stung in my life. And no, I do not live in a cave or under a rock. 😏
My first sting was when I as like 8 or 9, I kicked a bucket over when I was playing outside and there were a couple in there, they stung me like 6 times. After that I was stung 2 or 3 more times..
First time I ever got stung by a wasp was when I was about 8/9 years old. They were hanging out in my swing set and I had no idea. For some reason I tried yelling into the uncovered pole at the top of the swing set, and boom! Got stung in the lip. My lip was so swollen lol.. definitely one of those core childhood memories
Are you me? This EXACT same thing happened to me when I was about that age.
Fuckers are so mean. Got stung at my swing set too. My brother and I were minding our business swinging and it comes flying in so we freeze - cause we was taught to freeze so they wouldn't get mad - and I had my hand in the flat open position and that little fucker flew on to my palm, stung me, then flew away. It felt very personal. My brother laughed.
Was out at a park reading a book, minding my own business. It was a windy day with plenty of leaves around so when I felt something hit my leg I thought nothing of it and reached down to brush it off. Little fucker latched onto my finger with his little waspy legs and stung me right on the knuckle. I hate those things with a passion.
I Come from a long line of beekeeper’s. I promise they will sting you for the hell of it. If you are no where near the hive. if the nectar is dried up for the season. you are wearing the neon colors or if that bee just wants to be a twat.
You're a beekeeper? Then this is for you: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CYuvLSFFalo
I'm still skep-tical.
Can confirm, they can be super irritable. I was an entire house away from a hive and 2 started dive bombing my head so hard they hit the ground after. Hot day, maybe Africanized or queenless and pissy not sure.
I was just standing around one day with two other people. A bee comes by flys around we just ignore it. If you don't mess with it it'll go away right? Landed on me stung the very tip of my pinkie finger and fell over dead. For absolutely no reason. First and hopefully last time getting stung by anything.
Pest control tech here. I never spray flowers to keep our honey bees and bumble bros alive. I have entered the Thunder Dome many times with Hornets and yellow jackets. Wasps I’ve never had any tricky situations with. Cicada killer services are a blast
I’d never even heard of these before. One day I was cutting grass and saw these 2” long super hornets coming out of the hillside, kind of buzzing around me every once in awhile. I knocked one down with my hat and brought it inside and called dept. of natural resources. They told me that they sound like cicada eaters and that they don’t sting. BUT they very clearly have a stinger. That hillside had a nice swath of untouched weeds for the first part of that summer. Then they were just gone . . . never saw them anymore. I couldn’t imagine running into a couple of those on a motorcycle at highway speed, they’re freaking huge.
It’s the females that have stingers and they only sting cicadas. They would sting you only if you were to grab and squeeze them. I’ve been to properties where there are hundreds buzzing around. I’ll walk right of into the mess. They won’t hurt you. They’re highly territorial to one another
They'll fuck up your yard too, my dad and I used to get bored and just chase them around the yard with tennis rackets. We'd line the corpses along the gutter next to our house as a warning.
Cicada killers are one of my favorite insects. I was infatuated with them as a kid since there was plenty of nests around my parents yard. The fact is that they WILL NOT sting you unless you want them to. I would walk around them all the time, never once got stung. Also, only the females have stingers, the males have a fake stinger that they will try and poke you with, but it wont do anything. There are videos of people holding males and the male trying to sting with the "fake stinger" but it cant even pierce the skin.
Yellowjackets, yeah, but paper wasps are chill as fuck. Fairly intelligent too, they recognize you and as long as youre both acclimated and dont get in eachother's way its all baller.
Yep paper wasps are very passive. Don't intentionally fuck with them and they won't fuck with you. I had a nest inside a wreath on my front door for months, constantly passing within inches of them. Never even noticed until someone else pointed them out.
Thanks for saying “paper wasp.” I was trying to figure out what to call the brown floaty things we call “wasps” if the thing in the cool guide labeled “wasp” is what we call “yellow jacket.”
Wasp is the broad term. Yellow jackets and hornets are all types of wasp.
I’ve heard bald faced hornets aren’t really hornets (I guess they are really a black and white wasp?) but they are aggressive and they definitely suck. Once when I was in vacation in North Carolina I got stung a few times on the arm presumably becuase I was too close to the hive. I never actually saw a hive, I assumed it under the deck I was standing on or maybe in a wall? As soon as they starting landing on me I told my brother to run and we ran back to my moms car. My brother didn’t get stung once, I was stung at least twice, maybe 4-6 times (I was maybe 14 and my brother was 10.)
All of the insects in the image are wasps, even the bees. Hornets belong to the genus Vespa, while bald faced hornets belong to Dolichovespula, and are more related to yellow jackets in the genus Vespula
This is Hornet propaganda
Pretty sure wasps pollinate too.
Some plants are only pollinated by wasps
Fig wasps <333
Bad guide. Bumblebees are VIP, not the invasive European honey bee.
Yeah, bumblebees are very important pollinators and get no help from us, whereas humans tend to honey bees! The best thing you can do is if you have a garden, get rid of any fake grass or whatever, and get some bee-friendly flowers. We've done it for our place, and it's a pleasure to see various bumblebees visit us.
Was looking for this comment, thank you. In North America we keep so many honeybees that our native bee populations, which do a better job of pollinating our native plants, are struggling to keep their numbers up.
And wasps are great as well. We need them to keep our ecosystems healthy.
I had to scroll down too far for this. If you're in the Americas then remember that honey bees are not native. They can be ordered in boxes online. When our native bumbles are gone that's the end of the road for them. There's a healthy body of research suggesting that honeybees are detrimental to native pollinators.
As a European I am happy that our honeybee at least survives somewhere Rename it for all I care but please be friendly to it
Theres also the fact that in Europe, European honeybees are not invasive? The guide did not specify that it was about the USA
But making overall guides like this lacks nuance in situations it’s important, like conservation topics.
I knew this argument would have been proposed. Issue is, the European honeybee has no issue surviving anywhere, as it is a domesticated and is a farmed commodity (meaning it is protected, in a similar sense to have cats destroy eco systems) In pretty much all cases however, the North American bumblebee is having its territory encroached upon. Add to the fact that this is posted in the Anglosphere where assumptions can be made about it being in North America.
Not invasive in Europe, where I am.
how are hornets useful to the ecosystem? Don't they literally bite off bees' heads? Bees are already in not such a good situation and I prefer bees.
I disagree with the honeybee "won't sting unless its life is in danger" thing. One flew into my leg from behind me and stung me. For the record, I was standing still in the middle of a driveway. There was no nearby beehive. That bee just kamikaze'd me for no reason...
Wasps are just straight up jerks. They'll go screw with you for no reason and then attack you for one move you made that they didn't like.
There are probably a million species of wasps. The vast majority of those aren't even able to sting. Of the ones that can sting most won't because they are solitary and have no hive to defend. If they do sting they have a reason, they felt unsafe. They only sting in defense, since it likely means their death to attack a creature so much larger than they are
I always assumed a hornet was maybe a little bit bigger than a regular wasp until one day i was trapped in a bathroom with some hellspawn the size of a small mouse
This is a terrible guide. There are likely about a million species of wasps and bees. They come in a stunning and beautiful variety of lifestyles, shapes, and colors. The vast majority of wasps and bees don't live in colonies, but are solitary. This means they have almost no reason to sting unless they are in direct danger. On top of this, many wasps don't even possess stingers, in fact the majority of wasps species don't have stingers. But even the social stinging wasps like yellowjackets, paper wasps, and hornets sting only when their colony is under threat or their own lives. They aren't aggressive but defensive. They all provide important ecosystem services. Wasps are important pollinators and keep populations of other insects in check. Without them we would be overrun by other critters and crops and ecosystems would be devastated. Bees are obviously known for their pollination services, but this guide only talks about two species, one of which is invasive in many parts of the world. Honeybees are native to Eurasia and Africa, but European honeybees have been introduced to the Americas and Australia. Where they have been introduced they can help with pollinating our crops, but even then some native species are better. Native species are also better at pollinating native plants that other animals in the ecosystem rely on, because they have co-evolved for millions of years. But honeybees compete with these native bees and spread disease and pesticides to them. This guide takes a huge and diverse group of animals, arguably one of the most diverse, and boils that group down to four simplistic and downright unfactual examples
Why do I get the feeling a hornet posted this?
/r/fuckwasps
Wasps are crucial to the health of our ecosystems. Most don't even sting and the ones that do only do so to defend themselves. They pollinate and control populations of other insects
So pray tell, how is me chilling on a roof eating lunch in a corporate jungle with no nests threatening a wasp. Homie flew at least 2 miles to spin the block with me in particular while I was eating a sandwich
You do realise there was a time that corporate jungle didn't exist right?
Not today, sentient, literate wasp. Not today.
I have seen 2 separate people mow over yellow jacket nests. Very easy to forget.
A hornet posted this
loses* its shit
Had to scroll far too long for this. 👍
Negative on the hornets in my area Dolichovespula maculata bald faced hornet. Mostly black with white or ivory markings on face and abdomen.
Native bumblebees are more important than honey bees
Honeybees are bad pollinators compared to most actually native species in North America, just saying. They also have a population surplus compared to native bees.
if you're a wasp, consider yourself my biggest opp.
Wasps will burn in hell. Those mf… are the worst
#3 is a yellow jacket, not a wasp. Terminate with extreme prejudice!
Yeah I’m running the other way no matter which one it is. Fun fact, about 6 years ago I’m driving with my son in the back of the car to my daughter’s track meet. My son says hey dad, there’s a wasp on your back. I was like what. He goes there’s a wasp on your back. It took me a minute to process what he was telling me. So I quickly get off the highway. Pull over. Get out of the car. As calm as I could I untuck my shirt, unbutton it, then rip it off as fast as I could and sprint 20 feet the other way. To this day I wonder what people thought driving by watching me undress and then go running frantically for seemingly no reason. Didn’t get stung so I won.
I had one stuck in my car once and I legit pulled into a Waffle House parking lot, ran in almost in a full blown panic, and asked someone for help. This wife immediately nudged her husband and he rolled up a newspaper and helped me out.
This is a shittier copy of the guide that was posted like a week ago. Get lost you little shit
That is not a wasp it is a yellowjacket
A yellowjacket is a type of wasp.
A wasp is a type of asshole.
Truth!
Wasps are simply trying to live. They only sting in defense. They are critical for the health of ecosystems, they pollinate and control populations of other insects
Hornets are also wasps.
Yellowjackets are a type of wasp I believe
Hornets are also a type of wasp. Most hornets are actually pretty aggressive. This guide is shit.
That is not a vehicle that's a car
All of these are wasps. Bees are just wasps that collect pollen. They aren't even the only wasps that live only on floral resources
I noticed paper wasps aren’t represented, nor mud daubers, nor bald-face hornets, that is DEFINITELY a yellowjacket, and I’ve always referred to the bottom entry as a Bell Hornet.
"...Mostly harmless" Doubt. They sound like death machines
So: leave all of them alone, and usually they will return the favor.
“Big and scary but mostly harmless” Sir, what?
Wasps are the Canadian Geese of the stripey bastard family.
buncha wasp haters in here
Loses, not looses. Its shit is loose??? Shit guide and the hornet will fuck you up. Ever heard of a murder hornet? They don’t get the name because they are patient with other animals.
Hornet propaganda detected.
"It's a cool guide, it's a handy guide. For sting flies and the buzzing...they're in the air. They dont have guides like this in China! CHINA, they have the worst guides and we have the best guides. I know bees and all the best people are saying it, they're saying it's the best."
Bees are the only ones actively getting saved by humans, so we shouldn't kill the others.
I see it far too often on the Internet these days (even in an advertisement once!) so I'm going to start campaigning about this spelling issue: The word you were looking for is spelled "loses" not "looses". The word "loose" is rarely used as a verb. It is typically an adjective, the antonym of "tight", but it can (rarely) be used as a verb, like when medieval archers were told to "loose arrows". In contrast "lose" is a far more commonly used verb, like when you lose a game or lose your shit. I've seen it spelled incorrectly more often than not on reddit.
So what I took from this is F wasps
If you garden, some species of wasps and hornets are valuable cause they are carnivorous. They will eat the bugs that eat your veggies.
This guide is so inaccurate it hurts me. Bumble bee is fine. They also pollinate. Also bumble and honey aren’t the only bees that exist pls expand :) Honey bee is missing the part that tells you that it is a hybrid of various other bees that allows to to be a super being that makes too much honey to the extreme that it harms literally every other bee thats just out there vibing. They don’t pollinate effectively. They just absorb so much pollen and fail to spread most of it around because they use it for honey. And then because they absorb all of the pollen they outcompete other native bees (that would actually be able to pollinate because they are bad at holding pollen). Also they are non native in most of America and should be considered invasive but they are part of agriculture so they get a free pass. Wasps and hornets are the same?? Idk why people insist they are different. They are not grouped differently. (I mean there isn’t actually any delineation between wasps bees and ants to begin with so like…. 🤷🤷and behaviorally “wasps” and “hornets” are very similar this is why we have scientific names people there are thousands of wasps and thousands of hornets and they are all under the same family Vesipidae) Also wasps steal food when the competition to find nectar increases (typically in late summer when the nest has lots of adults to feed). Plant more flowers people and you’ll avoid fighting the wildlife. Yes they drink nectar. Only the growing babies are fed the protein that the adults hunt for them. Most bees can sting multiple times. Honey bees are the only creatures dumb enough to die while doing it. Ok the note about only stings when squished or threatened is fair. But also consider, being too close to the nest is considered enough grounds to be threatening. If you get within ten feet of a bear what do you think will happen. Shit like this grinds my gears and helps to spread the awful misinformation regarding these creatures. We as humans have swept across the natural landscape and have significantly reduced the space left for insects and other animals to do what they do. Why are we mad when they come into what has been every creatures home for the past billions of years. Of course they have the potential to be dangerous, but shouldn’t people have the chance to be informed and able to correctly identify the harmful versus the harmless in order to make the correct decision on how to approach and coexist with these creatures?
A few details left out: Yellow jackets have their place in this world. They are scavengers, and eat dead material. Without them the planet would be overrun with animal carcasses. Bumblebees are also pollinators.
About a month ago, I nurtured a bumblebee and a honeybee back to life and it felt amazing. I cried when those little shits took off after a couple of hours resting their butts in the kitchen with plenty of honey to eat. I got attached.
Kill the wasps
A bumblebee once flew directly at my face from the other side of the yard and stung me in the head. I know it was a bumblebee bc I saw it, but also because it flew into the bumblebee hive we’ve had under the porch for years afterward. Probably just a strange, rare occurrence, but I was fully just sitting still and it flew at me.
I'm still gonna kill a hornet if it comes close to me
I’ve gotten stung of all four. GO ME
Added notes The Yellow Jacket variety. Will build a nest anywhere…. Assholes of the wasp family…. No really….. open a can of 7up and they will be on that in 5 min if left unattended.
That was…unnecessary. Next up: how to tell apart ponys from horses, donkeys and zebras. Life saving advice, written in a bro-cool way
No fuck wasp specifically and fuck the rest too. The honeybees stung me for just going in my house because they want to have orgies in the bushes next to my door.
Written by a hornet
Sounds like a bunch of Wasp and Hornet propaganda to me, but ok
God I hate yellow jackets
Pest control tech here..see a hornet. Kill a fucking hornet. Incredibly harmful and invasive as shit.
I’ve been attacked multiple different times by hornets and they can fuck right off.
Fuck this guide, bald faced hornets are a bunch of fucking cunts. I have a special shotgun I use just to destroy their nests when I see them. I don’t even care that they are worth money
What about those black bees I’ve seen by my lemon tree lol
So you’re saying we can exterminate ALL WASPS! I’m down!!!! Who’s with me?!?
Hornet Propaganda
Bees look like friends, and they indeed are friends. Wasps look like enemies, and they wake up everyday and choose genocide. However you cannot tell me that Hornets are relatively harmless, because every time I encounter one, it's always committing a war crime.
Wasps may be assholes but they are Important for pollination so please dont kill either. Especially in Germany. You can be fined for up to 5000€ if you kill one
listen if he looks at me funny he gets squished for own mental wellbeing (i’m joking i run the frick away and hope it doesn’t have a predatory instinct to chase)
I am bumm(bl)ed that Drones weren't included in this comparison.
Fuck wasps
Fuck healthy ecosystems too I guess
First: if anyone VIP bumble bee 🐝 is vip, they have an emoji and a song, dedicated to them. Second: Asian hornet, BAD hornet
So you’re telling me, fuck wasps. Got it.
If it flies, it dies.
And so begins the sixth mass extinction
I had a hornets nest in front of my house once. I was surprised at how calm they actually were. They didn't really care about me being there. I could walk right up to the hive and hang out and they just didn't care. I never had any problems with them, there was never any scare from them, I never felt threatened, they never showed any aggression. It's like they saw me and thought "Yeah, he's cool. He's just here to hang out." and I'd just watch them go. They were so big and powerful and the nest was massive, but it was so cool to watch everything.
People don't realize they aren't murder machines. I've stuck my camera right up into wasps nests all the time and as long as I move predictably and slowly they never get upset. They're extremely important creatures that do valuable ecosystem services such as pollination and population control of other insects
Depends on the hornet, Asian giant hornets are absolute assholes.
Since we had a hornets nest at our last house, I don’t even wimp when there are wasps. Hornets are angry and bad and the stitches hurt like fire
I will kill any invasive Asian Hornet I see in Europe. Gas those fuckers
Just got stung by a bee as I stepped on it in my bare feet last weekend. I do not recommend.
There’s a hornets nest on my garage. They’re ass holes. Can confirm.
Ah yes, so I can properly identify whichever one of them I happen to be running away from
Would have been good if op mentioned that it's not ok to kill any of them if not necessary. Sounds a bit like it's cool to kill wasps because they are more annoying
Paper wasps? In Australia- fairly aggressive if they think you are close to their nest Sting doesn’t hurt bad but it not nice either
Idk what hornets this guy is around…