Wicked Wasps? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Yellow and black

Just a fleeting glimpse of these colourful creatures is enough to strike fear into the hearts of grown men, but it needn't be that way. They're really not the vicious beasts many people perceive them to be.

Answer: False

Wasps are actually an important agricultural means of pest control. Different species of wasp can protect crops from moths, caterpillars, greenfly, butterflies and many other harmful insects. Wasps also hold an important place in the food chain, being part of the diet of many wild birds.

Answer: Self defence

Wasps do not sting for no reason. The only time they do it is when they feel that they are - or their colony is - under threat.
It always makes me laugh that on the few occasions I've seen friends get stung, they've claimed the wasp did it for no apparent reason, conveniently forgetting that they'd been trying to hit it with a rolled up newspaper just moments before. Wasps are not aggressive creatures (unless they feel they are under threat), and we humans can live in harmony with them as long as we just leave them to do their own thing.
Mind you, it's only female wasps that sting, and I've certainly been stung by a few women in my time...

Answer: Drones

Workers are sterile females and kings do not exist in the wasp world. I'm sure you didn't go for Sting, who of course fronted the group The Police!

Answer: True

The queen wasps are impregnated females, and are the only wasps to have a relatively lengthy lifespan, generally living for around one year. Workers rarely live more than three weeks, while the males (drones) generally die within one month of their birth.

Answer: Nectar and insects

Adult wasps feed on sugary food primarily, but they catch and kill insects which they chop up to feed their young.

Answer: True

According to New Zealand's environmental organisation Landcare Research, the venom sac at the end of a wasp keeps pulsing for a short period after a wasp dies, so you're probably best advised to leave the cleaning for an hour or so!

Answer: Winter

Male wasps and female workers generally die from the cold during the winter, having never developed a way of storing food for the chilly months ahead. The only exceptions are the fertilised queen wasps, who will look for a quiet, sheltered place, often a hole in the ground but frequently a loft or the roof of a house, during their gestation period.

Answer: Paper

Wasps do not have wax producing glands, and therefore resort to using wood pulp to build a paper nest. Although the nest starts off small - initially the size of half a walnut - it can quickly expand to alarming levels, at which point, you would be best advised to call the pest control experts in. It certainly isn't wise to tackle it yourself.

Answer: True

In extreme cases, stings from wasps - or other insects - can bring on anaphylactic shock, which can prove fatal. This condition is somewhat rare however, just to put your mind at rest.