Why do we love bees but hate wasps?

[Still Waters]

A new study reveals that wasps are largely disliked by the public, whereas bees are highly appreciated.

The researchers involved say that this view is unfair because wasps are just as ecologically useful as bees.

The scientists suggest a public relations campaign to restore the wasps' battered image.

They'd like to see the same efforts made to conserve them as there currently are with bees.

Despised by picnickers, feared for their painful stings - wasps are among the least loved of insects according to the new study.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45566304

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-bees-wasps.html

[Piney]

That's a good thing. We have giant cicada wasps here and even though they are huge, with huge stingers, they are non-aggressive and have less toxin than a European honeybee. Which they are not going to waste because they need it to eat and feed their offspring.

[spartan max2]

Bees die when they sting you, wasp can just keep going at it lol.

 

And of course honey 

[Still Waters]

I thought bees had a more painful sting, but apparently not:

Quote

Our dislike of wasps is largely shaped by a small number of species of social wasps—the yellowjackets and hornets—which represent less than 1% of stinging wasps but are most likely to come into contact with humans. There are 67 species of social wasps, but the vast majority of wasps—in excess of 75,000 species—are solitary.

The bothersome nature of social wasps fuels the perception that wasps are more dangerous than bees, although each elicit a similarly painful sting.

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-bees-wasps.html

 

[FurriesRock]

48 minutes ago, Still Waters said:

I thought bees had a more painful sting, but apparently not:

 

I'll admit, I highly dislike wasps, but they do kill other insects, which makes them tolerable.

[internetperson]

Can't live where I do if your scared of bugs. I used to be when I was a kid but I got over it. 

Bees are generally ok in my book but they flock to my shed and bore into the wood leaving sawdust everywhere. Mildly annoying cause I have to cover tools/parts/etc. They don't sting so no biggy being around them, they just kinda bump into you and fly off. Tons of wasps here at my place as well but they wont mess with you unless you mess with them. They can be intimidating cause they do give 'warnings' so to speak but in general they dont mess with you. Even if they land on you just calmly brush it off and they generally fly away. It's when people freak and start swatting at wasps/etc is when they get stung/bit.

I will say I do not like yellow jackets. Little b******* can be aggressive and god so help you if a queen decides to bore into your house/anything and starts laying eggs. As far as I'm aware you have 2 options at this point: fumigate or wait her out. 

[Still Waters]

We've had a few wasps' nests over the years but they weren't a problem.

[Vorg]

Wasp can sting over and over, unlike the common honey bee. If they build near my house the nest gets eradicated, other than that, I don't bother them if they don't bother me. Same goes for bees.

Edited September 19, 2018 by South Alabam

[zep73]

Bored male wasps are a pest in the late summer/early fall, when the queens have been fertilized, and they've got nothing else to do but find rotten fermented fruit that makes them drunk, so they become fearless and aggresive.

You don't meet many drunk, bored, aggresive bees, do ya? 

Edited September 19, 2018 by sci-nerd

[Myles]

6 hours ago, Piney said:

We have giant cicada wasps here and even though they are huge, with huge stingers, they are non-aggressive and have less toxin than a European honeybee. Which they are not going to waste because they need it to eat and feed their offspring.

I used to use a whiffle ball bat on those.   

I pretty much kill a wasp every chance I get.   I don't go seeking them, but if there is a nest nearby, I take care of it.  

[Bunzilla]

I've been stung by a bee before, but not a wasp. And you know what? I still like bees better. When I was very little, I tried to save a bee from drowning in a pool, and the silly thing stung me in her panic. I felt more sad than anything else. We also had bees take over our treehouse, but we just called a beekeeper and he happily took it away for us. Unless you disturb their nest, bees don't tend to be aggressive. Wasps, on the other hand, are. They're determined to go after you, and simply gently waving them away often doesn't work. Not only that, they can be very destructive to any fruit you're growing. I appreciate the fact that they can keep pest insect populations down, but they also prey on beneficial insects as well. I'm sure most people are bothered by how aggressive they are.

[highdesert50]

The perils of generalizing from a regional or perhaps convenience sample data -- seventy percent of the respondents were from the UK, a region not dealing with the consequences of Africanized or killer bees. Over one thousand human deaths caused by this particularly aggressive species. Would this data have altered the conclusions?

[openozy]

I've been stung by bees dozens of times as I'm outside most of the time and do a lot of gardening.Last Summer I got stung by a paper wasp on the back of the neck and ended up nearly choking to death on the way to hospital.I now have to carry an EpiPen.Bees may sting but have a good energy about them,wasps are the gangsters of the insect world.The bee stings were more painful to me.

[Seti42]

It's pretty obvious. Bees make honey, wasps are murderers.

[+DanL]

I am actually pretty fond of Red paper wasps and honey bees both. I actually have pet wasps around my place that are very friendly. If one gets in the house I have no problem catching them in my hand and taking them back outside. I live in the country surrounded by woods. You are going to have wasps. I chose to breed mine into a more friendly sort of wasp by messing with them. If they were aggressive I returned that night and killed them all. Over 15 years I have gotten them to the point that I can walk up to their nest and physically handle them without a problem. I chose the red wasps because they are territorial and protect my place from other less friendly intruders like yellow jackets and hornets. It is just like Bees. The Africanized bees are aggressive and the blond Italian bees are gentle' I never have even bothered with a bee suit with my bees. The Red paper wasps start out as less excitable in general. They now either ignore me or one nest in my shop seems to actually like me. They will come down and walk around on my work bench and even crawl up on my arms if I will sit still for them. I have not been stung here in many years and have HUGE nests all over the place. 

[Nnicolette]

Honey! Yes wasps hurt more! Wasps are agressive too. What about hornets? Where i lived white bald faced hornets scared me, i hear they are more poisonous than a rattlesnake..

[paperdyer]

On 9/19/2018 at 10:01 AM, spartan max2 said:

Bees die when they sting you, wasp can just keep going at it lol.

 

And of course honey 

Honey Bees do, but not Yellow Jackets.  They can sting up as often as they want.  They are also very aggressive.  They aren't satisfied in stinging you to get rid of you.  They chase after you as well.  I'll take wasps over them any day, as long as the wasps don't try to build their nest in between my side door and screen door.

[mysticwerewolf]

having had many hives of bees as I grew up (I helped my father work those hives but they were considered mine because I took the year of college) I have a theory, bees make honey and almost all humans and many other mammals, like honey, and the second reason is bumble bees and honey bees can only sting once while anyone who can tell the difference in the stings or bugs will tell you hornets and wasps and blackjacks and almost all those others can sting repeatedly without dying, I have stood in a swarm of many thousands of bees and not gotten stung, and have placed my foot in a ground burrow yellow jacket nest and been stung hundreds of times. another reason could be that there is something ingrained in humanities past that bees stings and royal jelly both used to be used as simple medicines. of coarse this is as I said just a theory with no proof to back it up.
  and then again it could be that honey bees don't try to steel your  picnic lunch.   I wish I still had some hives here. sitting in a chair in front of a hive watching them work was exciting and a little strange especially when they landed on you and do not sting.    

On ‎9‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 12:45 AM, NicoletteS said:

Honey! Yes wasps hurt more! Wasps are agressive too. What about hornets? Where i lived white bald faced hornets scared me, i hear they are more poisonous than a rattlesnake..

not unless your allergic to then in which case they can be, depending on how allergic you are.

[fred_mc]

I think I never see any bees but I see bumblebees sometimes and I largely like them. Bumblebees can be annoying too though, if they build a nest in the wrong place. Many years ago, they built a nest under my parents' outdoor room. There were huge amounts of bumblebees flying up between the floor planks, then they were quite annoying.
Wasps are always annoying I think and they always build nests in the wrong place I think, like in my garden shed last year, and under my roof this year.

Edited September 22, 2018 by fred_mc

[Nnicolette]

22 hours ago, mysticwerewolf said:

having had many hives of bees as I grew up (I helped my father work those hives but they were considered mine because I took the year of college) I have a theory, bees make honey and almost all humans and many other mammals, like honey, and the second reason is bumble bees and honey bees can only sting once while anyone who can tell the difference in the stings or bugs will tell you hornets and wasps and blackjacks and almost all those others can sting repeatedly without dying, I have stood in a swarm of many thousands of bees and not gotten stung, and have placed my foot in a ground burrow yellow jacket nest and been stung hundreds of times. another reason could be that there is something ingrained in humanities past that bees stings and royal jelly both used to be used as simple medicines. of coarse this is as I said just a theory with no proof to back it up.
  and then again it could be that honey bees don't try to steel your  picnic lunch.   I wish I still had some hives here. sitting in a chair in front of a hive watching them work was exciting and a little strange especially when they landed on you and do not sting.    

not unless your allergic to then in which case they can be, depending on how allergic you are.

I don't know i was never actually stung by the bald faced hornets but being chased by them and hearing they can squirt venom in your eyes and blind you is a little frightening as a kid are there any others that can project thier poison?

[mysticwerewolf]

15 hours ago, NicoletteS said:

I don't know i was never actually stung by the bald faced hornets but being chased by them and hearing they can squirt venom in your eyes and blind you is a little frightening as a kid are there any others that can project thier poison?

While I am not going to say that there is no such bug as a hornet/wasp/ bee that can squirt venom I will say that I have never heard of or seen any such wasp/hornet. Personally I think it was just a story used to scare children but I suppose I could be wrong About that. I have been stung many times by bald faced hornets, ( which are commonly called  yellow jackets or yellow hornets around here)

[MWoo7]

In great forests one knows the difference between nasty bleeep black HORNETS and the rest believe me when you walk in on one of their nests out there you are like STOP< okay did they notice no, keep looking but thinking I HAD BETTER GET THE BLEEP OUT OF HERE !

Or sometimes you are too dumb and notice them on your hand or hair and you run like hell but they still get you no matter what, those hornets can be b*******! oops oh well its true!

[Katniss]

I'm highly allergic to the venom from either bees or wasps. Whenever they sting me my skin swells up so bad. I really don't like either of them.

[rashore]

I love bees, we have a variety of natives around here from big bumbles and carpenters to tiny Golden’s and greens. I love a few of the wasps around here too and encourage them to hang out. Braconid and paper wasps are particular favorites. Yellow jackets and hornets are jerks that I don’t allow around the house or garden, but leave them be to do their job on the rest of the property. 

[Nnicolette]

6 hours ago, mysticwerewolf said:

While I am not going to say that there is no such bug as a hornet/wasp/ bee that can squirt venom I will say that I have never heard of or seen any such wasp/hornet. Personally I think it was just a story used to scare children but I suppose I could be wrong About that. I have been stung many times by bald faced hornets, ( which are commonly called  yellow jackets or yellow hornets around here)

I think you are just getting a little mixed up. Bald faced hornets are the white and black ones and yes theu do project venom. They are clearly not yellow jackets or yellow hornets as they are white.