Selects: Wasps: Not as cute as bees

9:43Josh Clark:Yeah.

9:44Chuck Bryant:Hey, Steve. How you doing? Sting anyone? I'm doing okay, Ted. Thanks for asking. Just killed the baby bird. and some weirdo was filming it and put it on the internet.

9:53Josh Clark:Well, actually, Steve would say, no, I didn't sting anyone because I'm a man and I don't sting.

10:00Chuck Bryant:Oh, yeah, that's a really great point, Chuck, which we'll talk more about later. You'd find the stinger in the abdomen, which is the third part, the lowest part of the wasp's body, but only in a female, which I think this is true for bees, too, if I'm not mistaken.

10:17Josh Clark:Yeah, I don't remember. We've done a lot of good bee stuff. Yeah, for sure. And then in between those things, you've got the thorax, which has the six little legs, and then those really quick flapping wings.

10:29Chuck Bryant:Yeah. So in between the thorax and the abdomen, you have a very narrow waist, which usually is what gives away a wasp. You can look at it and be like, that's a wasp. Yeah. It's like it's got a corset on. Unless it's a hornet. Hornets are much chunkier, more rotund. Yeah. But they are, like you said, a kind of wasp. And actually, I think the genus that hornets fall under is called Vespa. And Vespa in Italian means wasp. So hornets are wasps in Italian. Okay. Okay.

11:06Josh Clark:So I think one of the coolest thing about the wasp is the history and the evolution of this thing, along with some pretty horrific stuff that's going to follow. But about, in the Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago, you had to kind of take a snapshot of planet Earth to understand how the wasp forms. And back then, they didn't have all these flowering plants like we have now. There were a lot of conifers, and these evergreens depended on the wind to spread their seed around. They weren't counting on the insects to do this kind of thing at this point. And we should also mention that ants are a cousin of the wasp, which makes sense.

11:48Josh Clark:They look kind of ant-like.

11:49Chuck Bryant:Yeah, I think they finally figured out that ants evolved out of mud daubers. They're their closest relative.

11:57Josh Clark:Okay.

11:59Chuck Bryant:Which kind of makes sense. I think they have some ant-like behavior.

12:02Josh Clark:Yeah, ant-like. So during the Cretaceous period, these wasps were carnivores, and they preyed on spiders and other insects. And as plants started to evolve, they realized that, hey, there's a lot of insects flying around, going back and forth. Like, we're just using the wind to carry our seed around. Why don't we get these insects to work for us, basically, and they can do the job?

12:31Chuck Bryant:Yeah, so that was the rise of the angiosperms, which is, you know, Whenever you think of a flower that the bee visits and moves from place to place carrying pollen, that's what an angiosperm is. Rather than having to just depend on the wind, you can depend on the insects. And so eventually over time, these wasps, these early predators that used to feed exclusively on other insects, said, well, you know what, this whole nectar thing and the pollen thing, I can get with this. So they started to change their diet from insects to pollen and nectar. But the weird thing is, is rather than developing a way to feed their young from pollen and nectar, like honeybees, which I think is another reason people like bees and don't really realize it, is that they're little vegetarian vegan animals.

13:27Josh Clark:Yeah, maybe.

13:28Chuck Bryant:You know, they don't hurt anybody. They'll still defend themselves, but they don't want to go hurt anybody. They're very peaceful. Wasps are not like that because even though they generally, most species of wasp, adults, eat nectar and pollen, they still kill other insects to drag back to their nest to feed their young, to raise their young on. So wasps are technically omnivores. At the beginning of their life, they're carnivores, and then later in life, they grow into herbivores. Yeah, isn't that amazing? It is. Wasps are way more amazing than I realized.

14:00Josh Clark:Should we take a break and talk about their stinger? Yes. All right. We'll be right back for Stinger Talk.

14:17Josh Clark:Warning. The following song has been rated dangerously catchy and may not be suitable for grown-ups. A, B, C, D. In the morning, brush your teeth. A, B, C, D. Give them all new brush your teeth. E-F-G-H. Hurry up and don't be late. E-F-G-H. Hurry up and don't be late. Lingo Kids. Only suitable for kids. If it gets stuck in mom's head, that's not our problem. Lingo Kids! Everything kids love.

14:47Chuck Bryant:Download now for free. You know, the cost of a bad night's sleep and waking up too hot might be the worst. You don't feel like yourself the next day. With a Tiami mattress, guess where it goes away? Five layers of foam and pocketed coils create a naturally cool, supportive mattress finished with a 90 % organic cotton top layer. You use your bed every day. Give yourself sleep you love with Tiami. You can have 100 nights to decide, plus 35 % off a$1 ,000 value. Exclusively at tiami.com slash better sleep. T-I-A-M-I. Beautifully designed for better sleep. Hey, everybody. We have a mnemonic device that's going to blow your mind.

15:28Chuck Bryant:If your skin squeaks, your barrier is weak. CeraVe Facial Cleansers don't strip the skin. They work to give you a stronger skin barrier from day one, so your skin will never squeak.

15:39Josh Clark:That's right. CeraVe Facial Cleansers gently cleanse the skin of dirt, oil, and makeup without disrupting the skin barrier. They're fragrance-free and won't clog pores. And get this, they were developed with dermatologists.

15:51Chuck Bryant:Yep, and they have different products depending on what you need. there's the Foaming Facial Cleanser, which gently removes excess oil, dirt, and makeup, formulated with three essential ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide to provide long-lasting hydration and 12-hour oil control. They also have a Hydrating Facial Cleanser, which cleanses without disrupting the skin's protective barrier, for 94 % less dryness and a stronger skin barrier from day one. No matter your skin type or concern, CeraVe has facial cleansers perfect for you and your skin barrier. CeraVe is the number one dermatologist recommended cleanser brand and offers a range of facial cleansers for all types.

16:29Chuck Bryant:Find yours.

16:44All right.

16:44Josh Clark:Welcome to Stinger Talk. I'm Chuck. I'm Josh. Wait, no, I'm Ted. I guess that makes me Steve. Yeah. Wasp stings are tough. You kind of mentioned early on, it's, you know, You get a yellow jacket and that doesn't feel great. And obviously we're talking about if you're non-allergic and it's not like a legitimate threat to your health and it's just the pain of the sting that we're rating here. Yellow jacket sting isn't great, but a wasp sting and a hornet sting is really something else. I feel like it hurts more and for longer.

17:22Chuck Bryant:And for good reason because it actually does. um like bee venom is its own thing shares a lot in common with wasp venom wasp venom seems to be this extraordinarily highly developed like biological weapon that is this cocktail of different kinds of compounds that all come together to produce a horrible pain sensation that lasts longer and has a greater impact on your body than anything the actual sting produces. And that's apparently the whole reason behind it is it makes the wasps seem way less vulnerable than they actually are. It seems like they're way more powerful. And for all intents and purposes, they are.

18:09Chuck Bryant:But if you could take the venom out of the sting, the sting would do basically nothing to you. But because the venom is introduced by that sting, That venom is so potent. It's like one of the worst things in the world to get stung by a wasp.

18:24Josh Clark:Yeah, and the actual stinger itself has a pretty remarkable evolutionary story. So here's what happens. In the prehistoric times, this parasitic wasp would use this ovipositor. That's actually, you know, the egg-laying organ. They would use this pointy thing to lay the egg on a living insect. Like they would lay the egg on the caterpillar. then these little larvae would hatch out and then they would eat that caterpillar, the larvae would. So at some point as things are evolving along Mother Nature says, you know what would be even better than this is if you could saw open that caterpillar with this ovipositor and lay eggs inside of this thing.

19:04Josh Clark:And that's exactly what happened. Right.

19:08Chuck Bryant:Which made a lot of sense and I think there's a lot of wasps species There's at least some that still do this. Like rather than build a nest, they just go find an insect host and lay some eggs on it or lay some eggs in it and then just let the larvae eat the inside out. But most, I think, have evolved to kind of use some different techniques, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But the stinger itself stuck around even after it stopped being used to actually deposit eggs into the insects directly.

19:41Josh Clark:That's right. And you talked about the venom that's obviously produced in the venom gland, stored in a little venom sack, a little burlap sack inside the wasp body. And then it seeps out. It's a barbless stinger. It's just like a straight little pointy thing. But it seeps out through these little valves and coats the entire stinger. And so they store this stinger inside of a sheath and are always kind of ready to use it. And, you know, like we said, it's only the females because it was an ovipositor. but the males can pretend like they'll rear their little butt your way and say, stay away from me.

20:16Josh Clark:You don't know if I'm a male or a female, right? You don't want to look too closely, right?

20:20Chuck Bryant:Right, which is just hilarious. But also, didn't that show like a certain level of intelligence as well? I think so. Or at the very least, there's some— To bluff. Yeah, to bluff, you know? That takes intelligence, which is, I think, another indicator that wasps are amazing.

20:39Josh Clark:Yeah, and like you sort of hinted at, the reason this venom is so powerful is it has a couple of functions. One is just the simple function of paralyzing those insects, and the other is as a defense. Like it's meant to sting something much, much larger and have that thing hurt so bad that it thinks it's hurt a lot worse than it is and like just wants to get out of there basically.

21:06Chuck Bryant:Right. And then that combined with their very, usually very bright colorings. Because, you know, usually the more colorful an animal is, the more toxic it is. Yeah. It's just kind of a universal symbol in nature to just steer clear. And hornets and wasps typically are fairly colorful as far as insects go. So those two things combined can teach a larger animal pretty quickly to just leave them alone. and that's kind of how wasps have made it this long. I mean, they've been around for more than 100 million years, you know? Yeah. That's a pretty successful species or family of insects.

21:44Josh Clark:Yeah, and that includes humans, obviously. If you go poking around a hornet's nest or a wasp nest and you get stung, you're not going to finish the job. You're probably just going to get out of there. Yeah, yeah, hopefully.

21:57Chuck Bryant:You can learn your lesson that first time, you know?

22:00Josh Clark:Yeah.

22:00Chuck Bryant:Or maybe you don't even have to learn it directly. You can just know to stay away from the wasp. So what's in that venom? Oh, some really good stuff. I actually found even more stuff than Robert included here. There's some peptides and some enzymes. Some of the enzymes include phospholipase A and B. Phospholipase A and B. And these actually break down the membrane and lipid coating of cells in your body to basically spill their guts into your bloodstream. And that includes neurons. Neural cells can be spilled into your bloodstream when they encounter this peptide, which sends an excruciating pain notification to your brain saying, alert, alert.

22:49Chuck Bryant:You're in a tremendous amount of pain. That's just like step one.

22:53Josh Clark:Yeah. They also have norepinephrine in there, which stops the blood flow temporarily. And that's why when I said it feels like it lasts longer, I feel like that's the norepinephrine at work because it just sort of sits in one place. And eventually the bloodstream is going to kind of dilute it away, but it kind of hangs out there for a little while.

23:15Chuck Bryant:Yeah, that's just mean. There's also acetylcholine, which actually goes to your pain receptors and stimulates them, right? Wow. And there's also histamines. And histamines are released by your body. They're responsible for the inflammatory response. But they also, the venom in a wasp's venom includes histamines directly too, just to make sure that it gets that inflammation good and primed.

23:46Josh Clark:Yeah, and then there's, I was hoping you would take this part because of that word. You want to try it?

23:52Chuck Bryant:Hyaluronidase?

23:53Josh Clark:Oh, well.

23:54Chuck Bryant:I use hyaluronic acid under my eyes, so I'm familiar. Oh, do you really? Sure. What's that? it's like uh it's an acid what's it for under your eyes um i don't know i think for bags and oh like eye bags generally keep yeah yeah yeah just to keep your eyes looking sharp oh wow i noticed your eyes look always look so sharp i thought i thought you'd notice eventually

24:18Josh Clark:so uh that thing that you just talked about and then something called loronidase mcdp mass cell degranulating peptide, this stuff actually melts through the connective tissue between cells. And basically just sort of, it destroys those membranes and allows the venom to move a little more freely than it would ordinarily.

24:40Chuck Bryant:Yeah. And the mast cell degranulating peptide, degranulating means that it basically goes to your mast cells and squeezes the histamines out of them. So not only does it contain histamines already. Not only does it trigger a histamine response or release, it goes and gets it out of the cells that normally carry it around in your immune system. So it's just really mean, nasty stuff. One of the other things I saw that they've just started to kind of pay attention to is called bradykinin. And it's associated with chronic pain. So on top of acute pain production, they're like, How about a little dose of what it feels like to have chronic pain, too, in the mix of all of this stuff?

25:26Chuck Bryant:And then, Chuck, tell me this isn't astounding. I got a couple more. One thing is just called antigen 5, which is as cryptic as it comes. They don't know exactly what role it plays, but they know it's a very powerful allergen. And then there's a couple of peptides that are antimicrobial, which prevent the wasp from contracting an infection from a prey that it puts its stinger in. Wow. Yeah. Isn't that amazing? Like, this is some amazing stuff.

25:55Josh Clark:Yeah, and I didn't see, I saw that hornets can sting again and again and again. But I don't know about the wasp in general. Is that the case? Yes, definitely. Okay.

26:07Chuck Bryant:Because a hornet is just a type of wasp. So you've got, like, mud daubers, the kind of wasp. A hornet is a kind of wasp. And there's, like, many types of hornets, but they're all wasps. That's right. You know? So yeah, they can sting again and again and again, which apparently is another reason why their sting hurts so bad. They can do this to you and inject this venom into you. I saw one expert interviewed on a different HowStuffWorks article that said an average of 10 times. Like if you get stung by a wasp, usually you're going to get stung more than once, and it can be 10 times, I guess, on average.

26:40Chuck Bryant:I don't know if they just pulled that out of the air, but they were a wasp expert, so hopefully not.

26:45Josh Clark:Well, you know those murder hornets that are making the news these days in the States? Those things can kill small rodents with a full charge of a sting. Right. The Asian giant hornet, which they found, I think, three of them in the Pacific Northwest that they thought they got rid of last year, but it turns out they survived the winter. A queen did. Yeah. And, you know, they call them murder hornets because they kill bees. And those—I didn't know this. So it was a big, because it was just sort of a back page thing. But in 2016, a package of murder hornets was intercepted at San Francisco International Airport.

27:25Josh Clark:And they destroyed that, so it didn't become a thing. But they're a real threat to bees. So that's why people are sort of writing about murder hornets now invading as an invasive species here in the U.S.

27:38Chuck Bryant:Yeah, and I mean, like, it's really doing an injustice to the hornets, unfortunately, because calling them murder hornets, like if you read some of the articles on it, like people will say outright, like, you know, they can kill people very easily. And that's just absolutely not true. And it makes it sound like they're a threat to humans. Like you said, the big threat is to honeybees and specifically is to European honeybees because they haven't evolved around murder hornets or Asian giant hornets. Asian honeybees have, and they actually have a defense to where when the giant hornets show up, like you were saying they just, like murder hornet is a good term if you're a honeybee, because just a few of them showing up at a hive can just destroy a colony in a few hours.

28:26Chuck Bryant:And they do it in a really brutal way. They decapitate the bees and just kill an entire colony in a few hours. And they do it because they're one of the few species that they're omnivorous, but most of their food comes from meat. They're mostly carnivores. So they're eating all these bees, basically. Yeah, they just carry your baby right off out of its crib. But they can wipe out a whole colony like this. If they run into an Asian honeybee colony, those bees have developed a response where they'll swarm around one of the Asian giant hornets. and they'll flap their wings a bunch and generate heat and they'll cook the hornet alive inside the swarm.

29:12Chuck Bryant:That's their defense. European honeybees, which make up a lot of the honeybees, most of the honeybees in the United States, they don't have that defense. So it's a big problem if the Asian giant hornet gets a foothold here.

29:23Josh Clark:Yeah, and it will pack a lot more of a punch too. They have about seven times potency as a honeybee's venom. and as far as the pain scale, they likened it, getting stung by a murder hornet is, they likened it to like between three and ten, like if you were to be stung by three to ten yellow jackets all at once.

29:46Chuck Bryant:It's so awful.

29:48Josh Clark:Yeah.

29:48Chuck Bryant:Because a yellow jacket sting is nothing to sneeze at either. No, it's not fun. I mean, that's a kind of wasp, you know?

29:52Josh Clark:Yeah. I don't get, I haven't been stung in a long, long time. Knock wood.

29:56Chuck Bryant:Knock on wood. I got stung a couple summers ago.

29:58Josh Clark:I'm not allergic or anything, but, you know, my story, I told it back with the bee thing, was when I was hiking that time and I got tagged 11 times in the face and neck.

30:08Chuck Bryant:Oh, man.

30:09Josh Clark:When I stumbled, it was one of those underground hives that I just walked over. And, you know, you see two or three bees, you're like, oh, what's going on? Then you see 10, and then all of a sudden they're everywhere and you're just running like a moron through the woods toward the river basically. But, yeah, I got hit 11 times, and, you know, that could have killed me if I was allergic out in the middle of nowhere like that.

30:35Chuck Bryant:Sure. I thought you were allergic. So we just lied on that episode of the Stuff You Shemote TV show. Yeah. Huh.

30:41Josh Clark:Yeah, it was painful. There was one, I think, that got the deepest on my eyebrow bone, my orbital bone. And it went straight through, and I could almost feel it on my bone. And that's the one. Like, I had a hard time getting it out. it was so embedded and it felt like somebody and i i know i used the same uh analogy back then but it felt like somebody had a tiny little you know little nails you hang pictures with felt like somebody had that poking that bone and they were just tapping it with a hammer

31:11Chuck Bryant:in this like regular beat that is awful it's terrible man alive yeah it sounds like you stepped on a yellow jacket nest because they they nest in the ground and they follow you too like

31:26Josh Clark:they were going to come after me until I got... Where you going, huh? I think we should take a break, maybe, and talk about nesting right after this.

31:35Chuck Bryant:Yeah.

31:47Josh Clark:Mom, are we there yet?

31:49Chuck Bryant:Ten more minutes.

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32:58Chuck Bryant:If your skin squeaks, your barrier is weak. CeraVe Facial Cleansers don't strip the skin. They work to give you a stronger skin barrier from day one, so your skin will never squeak.

33:09Josh Clark:That's right. CeraVe Facial Cleansers gently cleanse the skin of dirt, oil, and makeup without disrupting the skin barrier. They're fragrance-free and won't clog pores. And get this, they were developed with dermatologists.

33:21Chuck Bryant:Yep, and they have different products depending on what you need. there's the Foaming Facial Cleanser, which gently removes excess oil, dirt, and makeup, formulated with three essential ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and niacinamide to provide long-lasting hydration and 12-hour oil control. They also have a Hydrating Facial Cleanser, which cleanses without disrupting the skin's protective barrier, for 94 % less dryness and a stronger skin barrier from day one. No matter your skin type or concern, CeraVe has facial cleansers perfect for you and your skin barrier. CeraVe is the number one dermatologist recommended cleanser brand and offers a range of facial cleansers for all types.

33:59Chuck Bryant:Find yours.

34:13Chuck Bryant:okay chuck so we're moving on from venom i think we made our point venom from wasps is pretty serious um and if you want to avoid getting injected with venom from wasps you want to learn to know what a wasp nest looks like so you can avoid the wasp nest altogether. Because some wasps are more aggressive than others. And if you get anywhere near their nest, they're going to be like, let me just give you a little lesson about getting close to my nest. And they'll sting you, right? You want to get away. So the kinds of nests that you see hanging from trees, That's a kind of wasp nest. That's a paper wasp nest.

34:55Chuck Bryant:There's muddawber nests. There's nests in the ground that are yellow jacket nests. Wasps make a bunch of different kinds of nests. And for you to survive in the world, you have to know what each one looks like and be able to sense them out with your nose.

35:10Josh Clark:Yeah, when I think of wasp nests in Georgia, at least, I think of that honeycomb style where it's just a bunch of little tiny holes and it looks like it's made out of paper because it kind of is in a way.

35:26Chuck Bryant:Yeah, I think those are bald-faced hornets or wasps. I can't remember which one. I think those are the wasps. And they actually chew up wood fragments that they'll get from, say, like your deck or if your kid only has those old-timey wood toys, they might chew those up if they're in the yard. And then they take that and turn it into actual pulp, like paper, and they spit it out and make basically a papier-mâché nest, which is pretty impressive. But that's why those things look like they're papier-mâché because they basically are.

35:57Josh Clark:Yeah, and they're light like papier-mâché. And they're fairly intricate if you look at them. Some of them have what looks like little roof eaves. They're, like I said, super light, so they can be dangling from a really small sort of thread-like, I don't even know what you would call it, just a thread yeah sort of like thread i guess suspension cable yeah suspension cable exactly

36:23Chuck Bryant:we'll go with that because it sounds like it's a little sturdier although is that the kind that

36:27Josh Clark:you found in your yard today yeah i found you let the dogs out yeah i found one of those uh laying on the ground when i was a kid you know the big hornet's nest that are the big sort of um also sort of looks like paper mache but it's more gray and it doesn't have the the little holes it's just It's got one central entry point, and it's about as big as a football. Yeah. Those were sort of like country decor. Did you ever know anyone who had one of those in their house?

36:55Chuck Bryant:Yes, murderers, serial killers.

36:57Josh Clark:We had one. My dad climbed up a tree to get one of these. It was emptied, thank goodness. And we had that thing, you know, mounted on a log above our fireplace for years.

37:08Chuck Bryant:Really?

37:09Josh Clark:Yeah, it was weird.

37:10Chuck Bryant:Wow, that's fascinating. Yeah. I don't remember which kind that is. and I mean, I've looked at so much stuff about wasps. I think it was the white-faced hornet, if I'm not mistaken. Okay, is that who it is? All right, yeah. Those things can get pretty big. Yeah. Yes, and they're big. Like you said, the size of a football, their nests can get pretty big. But yeah, that's a good one to avoid. I didn't realize that they were aggressive, huh?

37:35Josh Clark:Yeah, you don't want to mess around with one of those nests. You don't want to go poking it.

37:40Chuck Bryant:From what I saw, though, mud daubers, which actually make theirs out of mud. They're the ones that, you know, those tubes that usually come down from like the ceiling down the wall. Those are actually mud tubes that the mud dauber has made. And mud daubers, we should say, they're basically two kinds of wasps in the world, wasps and hornets, social and solitary. And solitary is exactly what it sounds like. It's just a single wasp, a female, living on her own. She'll mate with some male wasp and then go off, make her own nest either burrowing into the ground or if she's a mud dauber, she'll make a mud nest.

38:15Chuck Bryant:So when you see a mud dauber's nest, like stop and be like, I respect that because that was made by one single wasp on her own with zero help whatsoever. She made that nest, which I just find extremely impressive by chewing up mud and just slowly but surely building it, spinning mud out onto the wall.

38:36Josh Clark:Yeah, and if you're a social wasp, you are, it's sort of bee-like in that they're working for the queen, maybe more than one queen even, but you have these male drones that are there to mate and you have these female workers who build the nest and they hunt for food and tend to these little larvae, but it's basically all about getting the queen to live through the winter to the next season. Like they will all leave the nest and I think the queen is the only thing that overwinters, isn't that right?

39:07Chuck Bryant:Yeah, yeah, Yeah, if they raise queen larvae, the queen will live until the next winter and start over again, basically creating eggs of sterile female workers to help her to hatch and then help her build up the hive, raise male drones. No, is the drone the worker? No, a drone's a male that's just used for reproduction, right? And then eventually raise little queens. So it's pretty interesting, especially as far as like social insects go. There are very few species of social wasps and hornets, but the ones that are pretty, they're highly social, even among like social insects. They have pretty intricate, complex societies.

39:53Chuck Bryant:Like some of these, the social wasp nests, I think including yellow jackets, will have multiple queens. and there's one head queen who has basically beaten up other queens to establish her dominance and then she'll have the most eggs and then the next layer down will have the second most eggs and so on and so forth. And that takes like a certain amount of cooperation to maintain and respect that type of hierarchy to keep that society functioning the way it should, especially considering you have to reinvent the wheel every year after winter comes and goes.

40:30Josh Clark:Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. And they talk to each other too, in a way they communicate, especially if there's a threat via pheromones. So that's why you were more likely to get swarmed rather than just like, if you're an actual threat to a, to a nest, they can send a signal that says, Hey everybody, this jerk over here has got a, this kid has got a stick and he's coming at us. Yeah.

40:54Chuck Bryant:Let's get them. And if they, if they die, actually they release that. It's like a by-product of their death is releasing that same pheromone. Yeah, man down. Basically, they turn into like Harry Dean Stanton in Red Dawn where they're like, avenge me.

41:10Chuck Bryant:I have that one written down.

41:13Josh Clark:I guess you didn't see the video then of the tarantula hawk since you're not into those.

41:20Chuck Bryant:No, but I've seen one in person actually.

41:23Josh Clark:Yeah, the pepsis wasp is known as the tarantula hawk because they lay eggs inside of a paralyzed tarantula, and the larvae eat the tarantula from the inside out. And I was like, I've got to see this. And, of course, on YouTube, there is a pepsis wasp battling it out with a tarantula, and it's no match. And it paralyzes this tarantula and drags him back, like, a great distance. You see a wasp pulling this tarantula across the ground.

41:54Chuck Bryant:which is much, much, much larger. But the tarantula, like you said, is no match. And even among humans, I think the tarantula hawk's sting is like a four out of four on the Schmidt pain scale. Like it's as bad as it gets.

42:11Josh Clark:Because, you know, I have to ask Mr. Schmidt, how bad does that hurt? And he's like, oh, my gosh, it's terrible. He said, yeah!

42:19Chuck Bryant:But yes, and they're very bright blue and orange too, which is another indicator like stay away. If you see anything that's really colorful, just assume it can mess you up pretty good. Yeah, don't lick that.

42:31Josh Clark:Like the tarantula hawk, that's the case. Don't lick that colorful frog.

42:34Chuck Bryant:So, but even if it's not a wasp taking down a tarantula and laying eggs inside it that eat the tarantula from the inside out, almost all wasp species, if not 100 % of wasp species, Like we said, they raise their young by paralyzing other insects, dragging them to their nest, and laying the eggs nearby, leaving the bug to be paralyzed and still alive when the egg hatches and larvae crawls over and starts eating that bug alive. And this is one reason why wasps have such a bad rap, because it's just such a brutal circle of life. It really is, yeah, especially from the perspective of the insect. And apparently Charles Darwin said when he witnessed this happening to a cute little caterpillar that it made it difficult for him to believe in an omnipresent and beneficent God.

43:25Chuck Bryant:Because what kind of God would allow a cute little caterpillar to do that? The thing is Charles Darwin, I mean he liked to putz around in the garden, but he was not a farmer. If you're a farmer, you're probably kind of happy to see a wasp larva eating a caterpillar because caterpillars eat your crops. And if you ask me, this is where we get to the part about the roles that wasps play in the ecosystem and why you shouldn't just go willy-nilly killing them.

43:53Josh Clark:Yeah, I mean, they'll bring in wasps. Farmers will sometimes if they have, like, an insect issue because the wasp is going to take care of that naturally and you won't have to use, you know, insecticide and stuff like that.

44:06Chuck Bryant:No, so plus also bees are usually kind of finicky, I saw, as far as what they'll pollinate and what they won't. Wasps are not at all finicky. They'll pollinate whatever. So they're non-selected pollinators, which makes them, like you could use them to pollinate any kind of crop, which makes them pretty helpful. And so they control other crop-destroying insects, and they also pollinate crops too. So they are pretty useful. So that means that you shouldn't just go around killing them. I think we should say it again.

44:36Josh Clark:No, you shouldn't kill anything except mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks.

44:40Chuck Bryant:And you also can't say, well, they're a threat to humans, because I looked up some stats, Chuck. You ready for this?

44:47Josh Clark:Yeah, you're not going to get killed from a wasp, are you?

44:50Chuck Bryant:No. I mean, yeah, but no, you're not. So combined, bees, wasps, and hornets, and hornets are just another type of wasp. Is that so? Yeah. I hadn't heard. They kill about 62 Americans every year from anaphylactic shock, right?

45:09Josh Clark:Oh, wow.

45:09Chuck Bryant:By contrast, 300 Americans die from falling off of ladders every year. In the UK, get this, between 2006 and 2007, eight people died from bees, wasps, or hornet stings. I'm including bees here, by the way. And then in Australia, where you would guess that half the human population is killed off every year by bees and wasps and has to regenerate every spring. Now, between 2000 and 2013, there were only 27 deaths total for that 13 years from bees, wasps, and hornets things, which is pretty astounding. But it all goes to say, like, don't listen to the murder hornet rap. The hornets and the wasps aren't out to kill you.

45:52Chuck Bryant:They don't want you anywhere near their nests, but they're not, like, trying to wipe out your family. They just want to be left alone, basically.

46:00Josh Clark:The murder hornet rap? Yeah. Now here is a hornet and it's here to say, I come to kill bees. Hello, Fruity Pebbles in a major way. I think I can't wait to re-listen to this one because I'm pretty sure you said that they kill 62 million Americans every year. No. I think you did. I might have been hearing things. It might have been a computer glitch. Just 62. Okay. Six to the two. I really am curious on if you said million. We'll find out. That'll be an Easter egg for us only. Uh, so yeah, don't kill the wasps. If you have what you think is a wasp problem at your house, you really don't unless it's, you know, I mean, if you have a really big wasp nest, like right above your front door or something, I could see maybe a case being made for removing it, uh, having it professionally removed.

46:53Chuck Bryant:Or if your kids are playing out back and there's a sinkhole from a yellow jackets underground nest where there's hundreds of yellow jackets. And if you're allergic. I see getting that removed too.

47:02Josh Clark:But in general, like wasps aren't after you. They don't want anything to do with you. They're not aggressive toward humans unless you come poking their thing with a stick. I love this. Robert says, and this takes like nerves of steel. He's like, if one lands on you, don't panic. Avoid swatting it or making swift movements. Just kind of sit there and it'll quickly fly off. Like I don't want to kill a wasp, but if a wasp lands on my arm, I'm not going to be like, all right, little fella. you're just going to give you some time. Go mosey along. No, I would freak out and flail. I wouldn't swat at it because I feel like I would get stung for sure, but I would definitely do a, you know, ah!

47:45Chuck Bryant:Right. You got to try not to do that. You have to listen to Robert and don't panic. Good luck. Every time I see don't panic in the wild, I just assume that it's a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, don't you? Yeah, I think so. So there's standing still. That's one thing when one lands on you. Okay, that's great. Things you can do to keep them from landing on you, though, are to not wear white and yellow outdoors.

48:13Josh Clark:Yeah, I like white and yellow.

48:17Chuck Bryant:Yellow doesn't look good on me anyway. But those colors attract insects. You don't want to wear perfume because you may confuse them into thinking you're a flower. Sure. If you have your garbage can uncovered, don't stand next to it. You want to cover your garbage can.

48:35Josh Clark:Yeah, especially if you're us. We got a stink. I always call it the stinkiest garbage can in Atlanta. That thing's so nasty. Ours is pretty bad, too. It's a lot of years of cat litter. Oh, yeah, that's a stink.

48:48Chuck Bryant:Dog poop. And then you can take down nests yourself if it's below 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 15.5 degrees Celsius because they're probably dead in there anyway. So it's a good time to take it down. But for the most part, we're just going to go ahead and say don't take down a wasp nest that you want out of your yard by yourself. Just don't do it. Hire a professional. There are people who will take money in exchange for coming to get a nest out of your yard. You can give them money for that, and they know what they're doing, so you can feel good about that, about hiring them. And it also supports local business, too.

49:30Yeah, and don't get that wasp spray that sprays from, like, 20 feet away

49:35Josh Clark:and just go home and, like, attack these nests with poison. Just don't do it. No. Stop killing things.

49:45Chuck Bryant:What else you got? I got one more thing. You have anything else? Nope. Okay, so in Japan, it always circles back to Japan, doesn't it, Chuck?

49:54Josh Clark:Yeah, if it's quality and good.

49:58Chuck Bryant:Including the Asian giant wasp, as well as yellow jackets and some other types of wasps. Japanese culture or culinary culture loves wasp larvae. But to get wasp larva, you have to go out in the wild, find a wasp's nest in the summer, and then take it back home without getting stung and raise the larva yourself. And then when they're ready to go, you harvest them and eat them in the fall, which is pretty interesting in and of itself, right? Yes. It gets even more interesting than that because to find a wasp nest in the woods, what they do is they take raw fish. Japanese love raw fish, but they share some of theirs with wasps.

50:41Chuck Bryant:And they leave it out as bait. And then when a wasp shows up, they'll take chopsticks and a little hunk of this fish meat that they have a string tied to. And they'll hand it to the wasp. And the wasp will fly off with the hunk of fish to take back to its larva, its eggs, with the string dangling, which makes it easier to follow, back to the nest. And after doing this a few times, they're probably successful enough that they track the wasp all the way back. They don't lose it. And they find the nest, and then that's when they take it home and tend to the larva. And then they eat it in the fall.

51:12Josh Clark:That sounds familiar for some reason. I might have heard that before. Isn't that cool? It's amazing.

51:18Chuck Bryant:Amazing. Well, that's all I've got for wasp, Chuck. Wasp out. So since Chuck said wasp out, that means it's time for listener mail.

51:30Josh Clark:I'm going to call this, Adam, I think you were wrong. and Josh was referencing They Might Be Giants. It's a long-winded title. Hey, guys, in your episode, How We Almost Got Rid of Polio, you read a listener mail that referred to How Flamethrowers Work episode. However, I'm somewhat sad that the reference wasn't made for the They Might Be Giants song, Istanbul, Not Constantinople. Josh made the statement, and it was a wonderful wasted opportunity. Well, that's exactly what you're talking about, right?

52:02Chuck Bryant:Yeah, I said not Constantinople.

52:05Josh Clark:Yeah. You were talking about the They Might Be Giant song, right? Yeah, of course. You just didn't. This guy doesn't get me. He just didn't say, hey, by the way, that's a They Might Be Giant song. Hey, everybody, open up for the spoon feeding. Just thought I'd drop you both a line. I love the show and enjoy listening to it daily to and from work, especially the wit and dry humor. Even though it goes over your head sometimes. Yeah, right. He said, it's very much my style, so much so that you aren't sure if there was a joke even told. Wow, this is getting very meta. Yeah. You both make my commute tolerable and enjoyable.

52:37Josh Clark:Thanks, guys. That is from Adam P. in Gulfport, Mississippi. Nice.

52:43Chuck Bryant:Adam, for you from now on, whenever I make a joke, I'm going to add waka waka at the end. That'll do it. That'll be just for Adam. Thanks a lot, Adam. We appreciate that. Thank you for listening to us and for letting us rag on you. We do it lovingly and jokingly. We hope you know. Of course. If you want us to rag on you, well, you send us an email and see what you get. Look up and see what you get. You can send it to stuffpodcasts at iheartradio.com.

53:14Josh Clark:Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

53:30Warning.

53:30Josh Clark:The following song has been rated dangerously catchy and may not be suitable for grown-ups.

53:34Chuck Bryant:A, B, C, D. In the morning, brush your teeth. A, B, C, D.

53:41Josh Clark:In the morning, brush your teeth. E, F, G, H. Hurry up and don't be late. E, F, G, H. Hurry up and don't be late. Lingo Kids. Only suitable for kids. If it gets stuck in mom's head, that's not our problem. Lingo Kids!

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