Up close and personal

Up close and personal with a wasp ... Get even closer and even more personal here.

Here are some interesting facts about wasps :

* There are approximately 75, 000 recognized species of wasp.
* Almost every species of insects contains a wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it.
* The wasp is known for its painful, poisonous sting, which can also be fatal as some people are allergic to them.
* Dying wasps release a pheromone that warns of danger for other wasps.
* As many as 10,000 wasps can inhabit one nest.
* The queen wasp, who is the only breeding female, builds the nest using a papery substance made of chewed wood and plants.
* Wasps are predated upon by different animals, which can include birds, amphibians, reptiles and various species of mammal.
Wasps, being omnivorous animals, eat a mixture of plants and other animals. They prefer to eat sweeter plants and feed on nectars, fruit and honey. However, they also eat insects and even large caterpillars.
* Wasps are believed to become very aggressive during the months from August to October.
* Since wasps predate on caterpillars, they are considered to be beneficial to farmers and gardeners.
* Wasps are active only during daylight and can be usually found resting in their nests during the night.
* Not all female wasps are fertile and the first group of wasps to be born are usually sterile.
* The queen wasp is helped by some of the fertile wasps to increase the population of the nest in the beginning. The other fertile wasps lay eggs in the beginning but eventually become sterile, when there are enough wasps in the nest.
* Only female wasps have a stinger whereas males do not.
* This is because the stinger doubles as an ovipositor... originally evolved specifically to lay eggs. As time passed, the paralyzing venom delivered with the stinger became necessary (in the case of wasps) to incapacitate (but not kill) an unwilling animal that might, for SOME reason, have a problem with having eggs laid inside their body.
* As the females can sting, they protect the nest.
* Most wasps die during the winter apart from new and fertile queen wasps who will hibernate to continue the wasp life cycle.
* Worker wasps may look as far as 400 meters away from their nest for food.
* Wasps that feed on fermenting fruit occasionally get drunk and pass out.
* Tarantula wasps paralyze tarantulas and lay a single egg on the still living spider; when the egg hatches, the wasp larva has fresh food.
* Wasps have learned to forage where humans are, because humans attract insects and tend to have things like picnics. In fact, they tend to specifically go to picnic areas, knowing that there will be plenty of things for them to take back to their nests.