Wasps... They're pretty annoying.
But what would happen if all the wasps in the world just disappeared?
Well, before you start celebrating,
let's have a little look at some of the lesser-known wonders of wasps.
If there are no wasps, it's not just the insect that would be lost,
but a complex society with some surprising similarities to our own.
All wasps have a role to fulfil -
be it as a queen,
or the wasp equivalent of a caretaker,
a guard, or even a nanny.
They're also a lot smarter than we give them credit for.
Some wasps can recognise each other's faces,
so they know where they are in the hierarchy,
and if they're friend or foe.
And they can be trained to detect explosives and illegal drugs.
Wasps are a key predator, and the loss of any predator
would have a huge knock-on effect on the ecosystem.
This is because wasps protect plant life, crops, and other creatures
from spiders, millipedes, flies, caterpillars, aphids, and much more.
In fact, they catch around 14 million kilograms worth of insects
every year in the UK alone,
most of which they take home to feed their young.
So without wasps, you'd see many plants left unprotected,
and a big rise in the number of uninvited creatures in your home.
The bee population has gone down significantly over the past 30 years
because of pesticides, changes in land use, and climate change.
Wasps face a similar threat -
they just don't capture the public imagination in the same way.
Studies show people associate bees with more positive, cuddly imagery -
like honey, flowers, and pollen.
While wasps evoke more negative terms - like stinging, pain, and rage.
But this is unfair
because wasps perform many of the same functions as bees
and wasps are crucial pollinators too.
In fact, if wasps didn't exist,
we'd lose over 100 different types of orchids and figs too.
That might not sound like a big deal,
but every species of fig relies on its own species
of pollinating fig wasp for fertilisation.
In turn, more than 1,000 tropical birds and mammals depend on figs -
and therefore wasps - to survive.
There are thousands of species of wasps out there,
most of which go about their business quietly.
And only 1% of these are the type that buzz around your picnic.
The most off-putting feature of the wasp is its ability to sting,
but that sting has some interesting features.
It contains a toxin,
which lab studies suggest could have anti-cancer properties.
So wasps have a lot to offer.
By the time they're out and after your ice cream,
they're in the last throes of their life,
which is only two weeks to a month long.
Because when the queen has no more need for them they have to leave -
confused, jobless, homeless, and desperate for a sugar fix.
So let's give the wasps a break.
After all, without them we'd have more pests,
less biodiversity, and more global food insecurity.
So as much as it's our instinct to panic
and flap our arms whenever we see them, don't.
Stop and watch them
and see just how amazing these disliked,
and wildly under-appreciated insects actually are.
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