Motherfu*king Nature

This is why I don't mind our spiders. An Orbweaver built her web right alongside our driveway - big, ugly as sin, but she wasn't in the way, so we left her alone. Turns out, there was a wasp nest nearby that we hadn't noticed (invasive species). We noticed little wrapped-up bodies appearing along the bottom of the web, like a stripy necklace...
She methodically and completely wiped out the whole nest.

@OnTopOfTheWorld That is horrifying, and not something I, as a city-living Victorian have ever encountered.

@OnTopOfTheWorld
That's great, but know your spiders and wasps. Some wasps lay their eggs in some spiders.

The Japanese honey-bee has an interesting defense mechanism against giant hornets. A hornet will scout out a hive to attack. The bees will lure the scout inside, and then 500 or so bees will dog-pile the thing. All the bees will vibrate as quickly as possible, raising the temperature of the ball to well over 100 degrees. The bees can survive slightly higher temperatures than the wasps, so the wasp is cooked while the bees survive. The wasp manages to kill a few of the bees in the ball (those jaws and stingers aren't just for show), but the colony survives. If the bees don't catch the wasps in time, a small army will show up and rip all the workers to shreds and there won't be enough bees to cook the hornets. From here, the hornets will gather all the bee larva to be devoured by their young.

So what you need to do if you see a giant hornet, just jump on top of it ASAP.

@CorruptUser - That's why I usually carry a storm lighter (also known as torch lighter). They're great for when you sit outside and some wasps decide to attack you and your food and kids. The torch flame makes it very precise and versatile. Of course I stomp them if they fall to the ground, but usually they just fly away, and as opposed to if you just try to wave them away, they don't come back.

I've read that if you regularly feed yellow jacket hornets, they will consider you a food source and aggressively defend you whenever you are outside.

{starts plans for flying army next summer}

@khrispy That... I... You... (starts gathering all the sweets in the neighborhood for next summer)

@MehWhoCares Remember that you should feed them meat - insects I suppose. Wasps are carnivorous until they get thrown out of the hive in late summer. That's when they want sugar and alcohol, and become aggressive.

@khrispy
"I, For One, Welcome Our New Insect Overlords"

@khrispy Wow... can you remember where you have read that? I so hope it's true, I want an army of yellowjackets to defend me! :O

Mark your calendars! We found one of the rare animals that Norway 'Nopes out' on.

@freia your avatar says it all huehuehuehuehuehuehuehuehuehuehuehuehue

"Oh hey that looks like a huge ass bee" = Not a wasp
"Wait a minute is that a wasp??" = Not a wasp
"Who tf is flying that drone" = A mf wasp

I saw on interesting technique that Japanese bees have used to deal with hornets:

https://youtu.be/UNroEwFxh6I

In North America we have smaller wasps, but they HURT! BAD! I've only been stung by a bee once, and I've been stung by 2 or 3 wasps. Pain!

And here I thought it was just America having to deal with invasive murder hornets...

@Sorflakne AFAIK the asian hornets (both species) began their invasion in Europe. But it's true that you had the prequel with the Africanized killer bees (but that was just part 2, since part 1 happened in South America).

I'm still gonna wack it with a frying pan

When I was 3, I would play in an old Jeep that did not run. (It was old in 1959) One day, I jumped in and got stung. There was a yellow jacket nest in seat. (It is a small but very aggressive wasp.) I was rescued, but suffered about 200 stings. It was a lot of pain. Did I die? I'll leave it as a cliff hanger.

@GaryM oh come on! Don't leave us hanging like that!

@Tsuhna I remember a bit more of the story. My Uncle, the owner of the jeep, decided to take vengeance on the yellow jackets. He put wasp killer on the seat. In 1959, wasp killer was gasoline. (Play Yakkity Sax)