Every autumn, wasps bold as brass, suddenly seem to be everywhere. They are one of the most successful types of animal on the planet. All wasps have a narrow constriction between the chest and abdomen and a stinger. The stinger is used to paralyse other insects and is taken as living food for the wasp’s young. The social wasps occur in large colonies and at its peak a nest can house several thousand adults and larvae. The nest is formed of concentric rings of hexagonal cells around a central column it can get to the size of a garbage bin. The nest is made of wood and mixing it with their saliva to form a sort of papier-mâché. The queen starts a new nest every year and is the only survivor from the winter, burying herself in the earth.
