Temperment: Very Aggressive
Habit: Social
Nest Location: Underground, within walls, above-ground
Food:
Insects, fruit, sweet liquids, carcasses, garbage, beer
Description:
Yellow jackets are smaller than hornets, and they nest in the ground as well as in bushes or under eaves. They are black with yellow stripes. A single queen starts a nest and her offspring build the cells in layers, one below the other. Yellow jacket colonies have up to 5,000 workers, and they remain active into the late fall. If the yellow jacket nest is disturbed these wasps angrily swarm out and sting repeatedly.
Paper wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are the common, troublesome wasps. They capture insects to feed their young throughout the summer. In the fall, they stop rearing their young and concentrate on feeding on
flower nectar and other sweet liquids. This is when they become serious nuisances around back yards, picnic areas, soda machines and other places where beverages or foods containing sugar are found. In addition to the
change in their food habits, the colonies have reached peak numbers and encounters with people become more frequent. Due to their foraging behavior and the potential for their venom to cause severe
allergic reaction in some people, yellow jackets are considered by many experts to be the greatest threat of all stinging insects in the U.S. Special Notes:
Yellow jackets tend to chew wallboard and, if left unchecked, may chew through walls of houses. A brownish stain will appear just before they break through the wall.
|
