Post #4068957

2026-07-24 17:48 UTC

Wasps can be foraging for lots of things that may not be intuitive to you: some will be attracted to very dry, damaged wood because they can collect tiny splinters to make their paper nests out of, some will be attracted to evergreens for resin and sap, some will be attracted to your family barbecue because they're hunting for protein. Foraging wasps are often pretty placid, and are very unlikely to be hostile. I've literally let foraging wasps climb across my hands, they seriously aren't that stressed if they aren't protecting their nests.

Replies (1)

@PallasRiot@social.treehouse.systems 2026-07-24 18:22

And wasps aren't just pollinators: wasps are potent little predators, and they really knock down populations of a lot of nastier critters, including flies that can carry disease and caterpillars that can damage crops. If the wasp population gets too low it's a little like a collapse in the population of wolves: the resulting rabbit boom creates all sorts of knock on problems. Baby wasps need a lot of protein, so adult wasps are really very effective hunters. If you garden, they're giving you a hand multiple ways. And look, obviously there are tensions at times between us humans and other animals when we have interactions at cross purposes. Sometimes we really do need to kill some other critters for the health and safety of we critters. But we benefit a lot from being more considerate and restrained neighbors with a lot of our fellow creatures.

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