July 19, 2006
Giant yellow jacket nests / Giant Asian hornets
If you think you have large yellow jacket nests in your yard, consider what folks in Alabama have been finding:
To the bafflement of insect experts, gigantic yellow jacket nests have started turning up in old barns, unoccupied houses, cars and underground cavities across the southern two-thirds of Alabama.
Specialists say it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, or multiple queens forcing worker yellow jackets to enlarge their quarters so the queens will be in separate areas. But experts haven't determined exactly what's behind the surprisingly large nests.
Just how big are the nests?
At one site in Barbour County, the nest was as large as a Volkswagen Beetle, said Andy McLean, an Orkin pesticide service manager in Dothan who helped remove it from an abandoned barn about a month ago.
Another one "filled the interior of a weathered 1955 Chevrolet parked in a rural Elmore County barn. That nest was about the size of a tire in the rear floor seven weeks ago, but quickly spread to fill the entire vehicle." Here's a photo:
While I'm on the topic of freaky things concerning yellow & black insects, check out this video (12 MB QuickTime) of Asian giant hornets attacking European honeybees. 30 hornets vs. 30,000 honeybees. Guess who wins? Gotta love the dramatic narration & music, too... heh. (Video also available in Windows Media.)
19 Jul 2:06 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Science, Video