Yellowjacket information, without photos
November 10, 2023 7:49 PM Subscribe
Today I saw Yellowjackets picking off spiders from a walkway. It was cool to watch, particularly since their hunting strategy was both thorough and also sort of not (they checked every stone, leave and piece of dirt to see if it was a spider). I want to learn more about the Yellowjacket/spider predation AND Yellowjacket hunting strategy in general, BUT I don't want to watch videos or see any (or many) photos. Any good websites for this?
I'm also open to Yellowjacket anecdotes that relate to predation and hunting (not them annoying you).
I'm also open to Yellowjacket anecdotes that relate to predation and hunting (not them annoying you).
Yellowjackets are good.
Some years back, I was on a weeks-long pack trip in the High Sierras--me, my Arabian mare, and Jasper the Flying Mule. At a layover pasture, my mare was injured, not damaging a muscle or tendon, but she had a quarter-sized tear just above one of her hocks. After sterilizing the wound, I decided to hang out in the meadow for a few days to give it a chance to heal. I debated whether to sew the wound but preferred to wait a day or so because she wasn't bleeding, and I've found that horse wounds often work out better when you work with the horse.
About the yellowjackets. I've shared many camps with yellowjackets. They like to check you out at mealtimes. If you swat at one, it will piss her off, and she will get a bunch of her sisters to teach you some manners. So, when buzzed by a yellowjacket, I put a dab of my meal on a rock within arm's reach. The yellowjackets will inspect it; if they are interested, they will dissect it and take it away.
I was told by old farts that yellowjackets help heal wounds. Indeed, a squad of the sisters visited my mare's wound. They kept the scabs cleaned away, and her wound was covered with skin within a few days. I believe some chemicals in their mouths kept the wound clean. By the time I got to the trailhead a couple of weeks later, hair had grown over the wound enough that I had trouble finding it.
Yellowjackets are neat. They ask only that you give them their due respect (and maybe a bit of your tuna salad).
I have never seen yellowjacker attack a live spider, but I suppose they might find a dead one tasty. I have witnessed tarantula hawks tracking spiders. They follow on foot, I believe, using scent apparatus in their feet. They are easily recognized by how they flutter their wings occasionally. They don't mind choosing any other ground-dwelling spider; what they do to them is too gruesome for even me to describe.
posted by mule98J at 8:15 AM on November 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
Some years back, I was on a weeks-long pack trip in the High Sierras--me, my Arabian mare, and Jasper the Flying Mule. At a layover pasture, my mare was injured, not damaging a muscle or tendon, but she had a quarter-sized tear just above one of her hocks. After sterilizing the wound, I decided to hang out in the meadow for a few days to give it a chance to heal. I debated whether to sew the wound but preferred to wait a day or so because she wasn't bleeding, and I've found that horse wounds often work out better when you work with the horse.
About the yellowjackets. I've shared many camps with yellowjackets. They like to check you out at mealtimes. If you swat at one, it will piss her off, and she will get a bunch of her sisters to teach you some manners. So, when buzzed by a yellowjacket, I put a dab of my meal on a rock within arm's reach. The yellowjackets will inspect it; if they are interested, they will dissect it and take it away.
I was told by old farts that yellowjackets help heal wounds. Indeed, a squad of the sisters visited my mare's wound. They kept the scabs cleaned away, and her wound was covered with skin within a few days. I believe some chemicals in their mouths kept the wound clean. By the time I got to the trailhead a couple of weeks later, hair had grown over the wound enough that I had trouble finding it.
Yellowjackets are neat. They ask only that you give them their due respect (and maybe a bit of your tuna salad).
I have never seen yellowjacker attack a live spider, but I suppose they might find a dead one tasty. I have witnessed tarantula hawks tracking spiders. They follow on foot, I believe, using scent apparatus in their feet. They are easily recognized by how they flutter their wings occasionally. They don't mind choosing any other ground-dwelling spider; what they do to them is too gruesome for even me to describe.
posted by mule98J at 8:15 AM on November 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
Best answer: How about a book? Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps by Seirian Sumner? No videos, naturally, and the photos are in a separate section at the end. Review of the book.
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:30 AM on November 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:30 AM on November 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I was a kid, I broke open some mud dauber nests and found that they were full of paralyzed spiders. Pretty cool to discover. This is in line with the fact that mud daubers are parasitoids--a word that you'll become very familiar with if you read Seirian Sumner's book. She reads the audiobook herself, BTW.
In contrast, wiki says that yellowjackets chew up their food and then feed it to the larvae. They are damn effective at it. Sumner has a whole chapter about how yellowjackets have been introduced to New Zealand and have really devastated the local ecosystems.
posted by polecat at 4:43 PM on November 13, 2023
In contrast, wiki says that yellowjackets chew up their food and then feed it to the larvae. They are damn effective at it. Sumner has a whole chapter about how yellowjackets have been introduced to New Zealand and have really devastated the local ecosystems.
posted by polecat at 4:43 PM on November 13, 2023
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I've actually seen a "tarantula hawk" (a very large spider wasp) dragging a tarantula across a hiking trail once.
posted by LionIndex at 8:30 PM on November 10, 2023