How Do Wasps Come Back to Life?
WouterAlmost every year, you will find a colony of wasps building a new nest. Typically, these colonies are made up of about ten thousand insects, including worker wasps, male wasps, and queens. These wasps are responsible for building the nest and taking care of the larvae.
These wasps build nests in unused wood and under eaves. They prefer a sweet food source, like fruit nectar. They also like water found in birdbaths or pools.
Once winter begins, a queen wasp goes into hibernation. She needs a warm place to rest. Hibernation is often located in a crevice or under a rock. The queen will stay in the warm location until spring when she begins laying eggs.
When the queen is no longer producing eggs, the wasp colony will stop producing. Most of the wasps will die off. But, some will remain, trying to rebuild the nest. Some will die because they don’t have enough food to survive, while others will die because the weather is too cold. These wereps will sometimes gather at the same spot.
This process is called thanatosis. It is a behavior that many animals, such as mammals and reptiles, use to avoid unwanted attention.
These wasps are usually the only ones that will survive the winter. But, there are a few exceptions. The queen wasp can survive on her own, but the male wasps will die from cold temperatures. A small percentage of the queen wasps will survive through the spring.
