I used to HATE Yellow Jackets...

[Mandzanita]

....until I saw one do the most precious thing :)

My mom and I were sitting out in her yard eating sandwhiches because it was a beautiful day. Of course these dang yellow jackets caught a whiff and decided to harrass us through-out our lunch. At one point I watch a yellow jacket land on the ground and start making it's way over to a dead one. It started walking all over him and messing with him. So of course I make a bee-humping remark to my mom. Maybe something like "gees, get a live one if you want to have fun" and my mom adds that maybe he's actually eating the other one. The nasty things that they are, I agree that that's probably what is happening. We watch them for a couple more seconds trying to figure out what they are doing until I see the live one load the dead one on it's back and struggle to get off the ground. Once he does, he dutifully flies his dead pal away....probably back to the nest. No soldier left behind...I had no idea that they did that! It totally made me go, awwwwwww :) Maybe they aren't such savages after-all.

I'm sure it's a natural thing for some insects to do but I didn't imagine that these nasty creatures were capable of it. Let me just tell you that I dislike yellow jackets more than almost any other creature on this earth. I see the need and reason for Bees but I havn't found any kind of need for these mean biting machines other than being a possibly food source for a spider. Witnessing this little act of comraderie forced me to gain a little more respect for the little punks.

[Kaitlyn]

Awwww. That is cute. But I still hate them. Sorry lol and the fact that my boyfriend will die within 30 minutes of being stung by one, I don't think we would have stayed and watched lol!

[Mandzanita]

Oh don't get me wrong, I don't like them either...still! LOL Maybe just have a little more respect for them :) Still havn't thought of a use earth for them on this earth though...

[FrogInABlender]

....my mom adds that maybe he's actually eating the other one. The nasty things that they are, I agree that that's probably what is happening. We watch them for a couple more seconds trying to figure out what they are doing until I see the live one load the dead one on it's back and struggle to get off the ground. Once he does, he dutifully flies his dead pal away....probably back to the nest...

Yep, definitely taking him back to the hive....to feed to the brood! He was free food at that point. No noble intentions there, just cold, calculated efficiency. They're like The Borg. Resistance is futile! ;)

I STILL hate them!

[cloedoll]

Awey! That is CUTE! RIP lil' Yellow Jacket

[FredRock]

Aww, but I agree with frog, he was probably doing it for food. (if yellow jacks eat things? I don't have a clue)

All I know is that they're nasty little buggers, I was closing a gate, minding my own business, and it came out of nowhere and took two big bite out of me. Hurt like crazy. I've never loved killing any kind of animal, bug or otherwise, but I have no problem killing yellow jacks.

[Mandzanita]

I'm gonna try and look up the Yellow Jacket life-style...if they really do eat their own dead my respect is gone! lol

[FrogInABlender]

...(if yellow jacks eat things? I don't have a clue)...

You're kidding me, right?! Yellow Jackets will take the food right out of your mouth and sting you in the process if they get a chance. A friend of mine learned the hard way to never leave a soft drink unattended this time of year and then drink out of it without looking in it first. He had a fat lip for quite a while! :doh:

[FrogInABlender]

I'm gonna try and look up the Yellow Jacket life-style...if they really do eat their own dead my respect is gone! lol

They definitely will try to carry home other dead insects, and I even saw one trying to fly off with some dead mouse guts that my cat left on the doorstep, so nothing leads me to believe that they wouldn't. Protein is protein to them, no matter where it comes from.

[FredRock]

You're kidding me, right?! Yellow Jackets will take the food right out of your mouth and sting you in the process if they get a chance. A friend of mine learned the hard way to never leave a soft drink unattended this time of year and then drink out of it without looking in it first. He had a fat lip for quite a while! :doh:

Ouch! I don't really stick around when I see yellow jacks in an area, so that might be why. I used to hate going into the pasture at the barn because stupid yellow jacks made a nest right on the end you had to open, inside of the gate.

[Mandzanita]

Yeah I watched one go to town on a peice of steak. You could actually watch it take HUGE chunks out of the meat. You can see the result of a huge chunk out of you when they bit you...gnarly. I'm still search and don't see anything about cannibleism in yellow jackets.

[FrogInABlender]

... I used to hate going into the pasture at the barn because stupid yellow jacks made a nest right on the end you had to open, inside of the gate.

A can of gasoline and darkness are your best friend in cases like that! :cool:

(And the kind I'm talking about are the ground bee variety, not the wasp variety)

[Mandzanita]

I just read a funny story about a guy who tried to fill the ground wasps hold with gasoline and light it on fire...lol.

[FrogInABlender]

.... I'm still search and don't see anything about cannibleism in yellow jackets.

Well, you probably won't find it referred to that way. I think cannibalism is a concept that only really applies to higher species that are more self-aware. I don't think that species like ants and bees, which have more of a hive mentality, where the benefit of the hive is more important than the benefit of the individual members, would have any compunction against eating one of it's own.

[FrogInABlender]

I just read a funny story about a guy who tried to fill the ground wasps hold with gasoline and light it on fire...lol.

Heh, I can imagine how THAT one ended! Here in the South, that kind of thing is usually preceeded by the comment "Hey y'all, hold muh beer and watch this!" :rolleyes:

Gas all by itself works well enough, thankyouverymuch!

[Horseless]

The yellow Jackets we have here nest in the ground, and the last nest I found a couple of weeks ago, I poured gas in the hole and killed them. LOL
The End

[FrogInABlender]

...I poured gas in the hole and killed them. LOL The End

A man after my own heart!

[carla]

I noticed this behavior when I was little.. so I figured out that if you squish one in the cement, the next is easier to get because they'll linger trying to pry it up. Before you know it, you've got a whole greasy spot of 'em on the driveway!

I did fall in a nest on my bike when I was little, though.. maybe I was bitter. ;)

[carla]

Horseless, you and Sunday's Man should get together on a YJ defense team or something. He's ALWAYS had a knack for tracking them and finding their nest in the yard. And then he did the gasoline thing too! I've tried to track them the way he always did, but I just don't have "it."

[Horseless]

I am known as as " He who kills Yellow Jackets" Its my Native American name.:cool:

[carla]

I am known as as " He who kills Yellow Jackets" Its my Native American name.:cool:

:cool: LOL! :cool: