Enormous Wasp Nests Uncovered in Southern US - Scientists Stumped

This is pretty interesting to me...

Link

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.

I've seen some nests the size of basketballs or footballs, and I thought they were pretty enormous. Now this article is talking about nests the size of a 1955 Chevy 4-door.

The largest nest Ray has inspected this year 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, the property owner, Harry Coker, said. Four satellite nests around it have gotten into the eaves of the barn, about 300 yards from his home.

One thing I found particularly fascinating was the revelation that multiple queens are sharing these big nests. I've never heard of such a thing happening in insect colonies. The queens always leave to form their own colonies elsewhere, they don't stick around, or so I thought.

There is a rather mundane explanation for this behavior(warm winter), but I think it may also be something else. There have been plenty of warm winters in recorded history, I'm sure, and yet not once have I read an account of a wasp nest this big.

So, is this a new behavior?

Are we going to see more of this?

Have the queens learned to get along, or are they at war in these confined spaces?

Strange, in any case...

Actually i once saw on the news a real nest the size of about half a room, they had to get these to guys to flame-thrower it down, because they were constatly stinging the locals...this seems to have a odd resemblance

Jeez!!!!!
I think it's time to bring in the small artillery. Minor explosives and the like would teach those suckers a lesson. I might seem a little extreme, but my Mother is allergic.

It's personal.

Blame George "W" for this one just like Katrina, it is an executive order!

Im lucky in england we have pretty standerd wasps here, but i also rember hearing the wasps from africa(killer wasps) are belived to be the ones emigrating here, they are also belived to have cross bread, they could tell because of the wing size.

I wonder if these "Mega-nests" have any relationship to Global warming. The specialists said that it could be the result of a mild winter and drought conditions, but like WyrdeOne already said, there have been many warm winters in recorded history. So is it possible that these swarm's are sensing some sort of great shift in the current climate and in turn reacting w/ a great shift in their behavoir and society structure to insure the survival of their species?

We've all heard about different species sensing natural danger. Whether it's housepets acting strange from days to moments before an earthquake, or the elephants of indonesia seeking higher ground hours before the tsunami hit. A sixth sense does seem to be prevalent in the natural world (although I've never heard a circumstance involving insects). Could this odd occurance foreshadow future behavoirs in the natural world? As Global warming begins, might we began to see more species engage in strange behavoir.

I might be reading to much into what could be considered just an irregularity in the natural world, but I definitly think this is a precursor of things to come.

[edit on 8/28/06 by Calm Anomaly]

I read our post and immediatly thought of the book "Enders Game", writtin by Orson Scott Card. The book is about a war between humans and an alien species referd to as the "buggers".
In the book the evolution of the biggers is discovered by humanities only hope to win the war, a child nicknamed "Ender". The buggers were originally a beehive type species, with a queen and MANY workers forming a colony. It goes on to say that the buggers "started" when something changed in the queens instincts so that she no longer made the new queens leave. It turned out that the addition of another genetic line to the hive made it stronger than all the others and so darwinism took over and eventually the entire bugger race was one big " colony" inhabiting most of the galaxy.

rambling, im outa here , sorry

The best parts were censored , so the whole thing had to go

Global warming could result in massive behavoiral modifications of entire species. That is the most logical explanation I could think of. If anyone has heard of a better theory....



[edit on 8/28/06 by Calm Anomaly]

Whoa!

Relax. You took the post above yours completely out of context. He wasn't making fun of you, he was adding a useful line of thinking - based off a book by Orson Scott Card. The notion that the insects might be evolving is interesting, it had certainly crossed my mind. I completely forgot about the buggers though, that's pretty interesting to ponder what might become of an insect species that overcomes its internal competition and starts competing with other species exclusively...

So..chill anomaly - and don't circumvent the censors, and don't attack your fellow members.

Originally posted by Calm Anomaly
I wonder if these "Mega-nests" have any relationship to Global warming.

While it's a nice thought, I doubt it.

Setting aside my doubts about the validity of Global Warming, I would say that since Global Warming effects things globally, and this is only one species, then I'd say we only have a particularly mild winter that may or may not have been caused by Global Warming. That's about as far as one can go before you start to speculate.

Setting aside my doubts about the validity of Global Warming, I would say that since Global Warming effects things globally, and this is only one species, then I'd say we only have a particularly mild winter that may or may not have been caused by Global Warming. That's about as far as one can go before you start to speculate.

How about Salmon appearing in places where the locals have absolutely no name for them? How about Robins? Cabbage in Greenland? There are many changes being wrought by the current warming trend. The Evidence is out there if you bother to open your eyes and just look. Last winter in my neck of the woods, the majority of the plants stayed green under the snow instead of the usual drab brown. Gardens sprouted almost two weeks early this year according to the many old timers who tend gardens near my house. You don't need no stinking internet to prove to yourself that something is going on...

Ask the Inuit, they've been experiencing a warming trend that is happening twice as fast in their neck of the woods compared to the global average.(And it ain't the sun that's doing it either)



[edit on 28-8-2006 by sardion2000]

Perhaps the aliens are genetically engineering behavioral and physical changes in insects and other animals on our planet. There have been many reports of strange animals being sighted in many places. Just recently there was some kind of creature found dead that was not quite a wolf and not quite a dog but resembled them. Strange goings-on in the animal kingdom. There was also a report, a couple of years ago about an enormous spider-web that almost covered an entire field. It turned out to be a collection of small webs that had all been connected together into one huge web. kinda like those wasp nests.
Wasps and spiders....don't much care for either of them.

[edit on 29-8-2006 by SkyWay]

Well, nothing this big, but I can report in northern FL there seems to be a massive proliferation of mud daubbers everywhere compared to previous years. You really have to stay on top of them. I had heard that the conventional wisdom was to let them be becuase they were territorial and if you let one alone it would prevent others in the vicinity. Apparently not the case, as I have seen many houses this year with no less than twenty of these mud nests all in one entranceway or on the porch.

Our weather has been atypical this year with major fluctuations of severe prolonged drought, short periods of heavy rains, then back to the drought. Just thought I'd through that out for speculation. This weather tends to bring an onslaught of unwanted pests into the house when the rains come. I always have a can of bug spray within reach at a moments notice this year. (Picture "Dog" and his mace).

What's a mud dauber? How big are they and do they sting people?

They are wasps (slightly larger than normal here in Florida - everything seems to be) that live in mud built nests.

Yes they sting.

I can't remember if it was a wasp or a hornet, as their nests are the same. Anyway, I know if I get stung by one of them, I puff up like a blowfish.

I don't have anything against the creatures; it is not a good idea for me to get too close to either one.

Thank goodness here in the UK the wasps are a lot smaller. When I got attacked it was in the US. Mind you, I was an ignorant kid about 8 at the time; I poked at the nest,(which was stupid) and they got their own back on me.

I don't seem to have any troubles with bees or wasps now. They get close to me without stinging me, although my dog got stung by a bumble (you can guess where) while having her constitutional in the garden. So, compared to the hornets and wasps in the US, ours are pretty tame.

What amazes me though is those nests. It is amazing how they make such complex colonies on so many different structures. Obviously, they think collectively, but to form over a chair and other places, is truly extraordinary.

Originally posted by Relentless
They are wasps (slightly larger than normal here in Florida - everything seems to be) that live in mud built nests.

Yes they sting.

But they are extremely hard to get to sting you. They are probably about the most peaceful wasp you'll find. I ignore them. They feed spiders that glow in the dark to their larvae. I don't want to ever see spiders that glow in the dark again.

The big reason that queens don't share territory is that there is often a lack of food to sustain multiple hives up each other a*****, when they can survive that close together, (especially sister queens, not often mother/daugher), they do.

....

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Giant wasp nests. =/ Anyway, that's kind of creepy, are there any other sources of this information?

[edit on 29-8-2006 by Johnmike]

Ive only noticed corn growing where no one planted it around the neighborhood. Maybe the birds scattered the seeds, but I had a stalk growing in my backyard for no apparent reason, and this year, three stalks are growing across the street in front of our house on the side of the highway, which is a very steep grade. A few houses down there are numerous stalks all growing and believe me, these people are the types to not plant anything. I hope it is just birds and not the attack of nature. LOL

Originally posted by ben91069
Ive only noticed corn growing where no one planted it around the neighborhood. Maybe the birds scattered the seeds, but I had a stalk growing in my backyard for no apparent reason, and this year, three stalks are growing across the street in front of our house on the side of the highway, which is a very steep grade. A few houses down there are numerous stalks all growing and believe me, these people are the types to not plant anything. I hope it is just birds and not the attack of nature. LOL

lol....used to have that issue with Mary Jane