Question: How do Yellow Jacket Wasps identify their nest location?

Answer: Yellow Jacket Wasps have an incredible sense of location. They use visual landmarks around their nest, like trees and buildings, to navigate. Research shows they can recognize and remember specific features of their environment, guiding them back to their nest, which can be up to several hundred meters away.

Question: What is the size of a typical Yellow Jacket Wasp colony?

Answer: The size of a Yellow Jacket Wasp colony can vary widely. In peak season, usually late summer, a colony can house between 1,000 to 4,000 members. The queen starts the colony in spring with a few eggs, and it grows over the summer. Colonies are usually found underground, in old rodent burrows, or sometimes in wall cavities of buildings.

Question: Do Yellow Jacket Wasps die after stinging?

Answer: Unlike honeybees, Yellow Jacket Wasps don’t die after stinging. They can sting multiple times, making them more dangerous during an encounter. Their stingers are smooth and not barbed, allowing them to withdraw it easily from their victim's skin and use it again.

Question: Are Yellow Jacket Wasps aggressive all year round?

Answer: Yellow Jacket Wasps are generally more aggressive during late summer and early fall. This aggression is due to the decline in their natural food sources, making them more likely to come into contact with humans. During spring and early summer, they are less aggressive as they focus on building their colonies.

Question: What do Yellow Jacket Wasps eat?

Answer: Yellow Jacket Wasps have a diverse diet. They feed on sugars and carbohydrates, often drawn to human food and garbage. They also hunt other insects, like flies and caterpillars, to feed their larvae. The larvae, in turn, produce a sweet substance the adults consume.

Question: How long do Yellow Jacket Wasps live?

Answer: The lifespan of Yellow Jacket Wasps varies among the colony members. Worker wasps typically live about 12-22 days, while the queen can live up to a year. The queen hibernates during the winter and starts a new colony in the spring, while the rest of the colony does not survive the winter.

Question: Can Yellow Jacket Wasps remember human faces?

Answer: There is no scientific evidence to suggest that Yellow Jacket Wasps can remember human faces. They do have good vision for detecting movement and can be provoked by rapid movement or threatening behavior near their nest.

Question: How fast can Yellow Jacket Wasps fly?

Answer: Yellow Jacket Wasps are quite agile in the air, capable of reaching speeds up to 6-7 miles per hour. This speed, combined with their ability to maneuver quickly, makes them efficient hunters and difficult to evade when agitated.

Question: How do Yellow Jacket Wasps communicate within the colony?

Answer: Communication within a Yellow Jacket Wasp colony is primarily through pheromones. These chemical signals are used for various purposes, such as marking food sources, alerting danger, and coordinating colony activities. They also use tactile communication through antennae contact.

Question: Are all Yellow Jacket Wasps capable of reproduction?

Answer: In a Yellow Jacket Wasp colony, only the queen is capable of reproduction. She lays all the eggs in the colony. The male wasps, or drones, have the sole purpose of mating with the queen, and the worker wasps, which are sterile females, maintain the nest and gather food.