If I told you there was a wasp buzzing around your head right now, what would you do? Would you run?
The amazing duality of wasps is that they are all at once terrifying and majestic. We’re all pretty well-acquainted with the terrifying part of their personalities. These insects have historically stricken so much fear in the hearts of the mighty that they have their own designated phobia: spheksophobia.
Did you know, though, that wasps are also master builders?
Using chewed wood bonded together with saliva, wasps annually construct some of the most intricate nests found in the wild.
Recently, Mattia Menchetti, a biological science student, decided to see if by swapping one colony’s traditional wood supply with colorful paper, he could influence his wasps to build a rainbow-colored nest. How did it turn out? These creatures built a home Dr. Seuss himself would envy!
LittleThings spoke with Menchetti, who explained, "I was keeping these wasps, and I tried to create something different than the other nests."
Scroll through below to see the glorious rainbow-colored nest Menchetti’s wasps built. This totally blew my mind!
Biological science student Mattia Menchetti has always been fascinated by the geometric intricacies of spiderwebs and wasp nests.
While these naturally built structures exist all over our planet, many of us avoid them like the plague, fearing unwanted bites and stings.
Menchetti, though, braved that fear in the name of science!
Knowing that wasps usually build their nests by chewing wood into a paste and then adhering it together with their saliva, Menchetti hatched his plan.
This scientist designed an experiment to find out, if he swapped one colony of European paper wasps’s typical wood supply with colored paper, could he get them to build a rainbow-colored nest?
Amazingly, it worked!
He started by feeding them yellow paper, and then slowly added other colors into the mix. This method resulted in a rainbow-striped nest unlike anything we’d ever seen before.
Menchetti told LittleThings, "I shot photos once a day… but the colony continued growing for about a month."
Simply being able to influence this psychedelic color scheme is cool in and of itself. However, Menchetti’s experiment achieved more than just that.
By tracking the order in which he fed these wasps each color, Menchetti effectively color-mapped each stage of wasp nest construction — granting himself, and all of us, further insight into exactly how these wasps construct their intricate nests.
He told LittleThings, "This technique is used to assess the behavioral pattern of the species. I learned it at the University of Florence."
While wasps can certainly inflict painful attacks when threatened, they are also innately talented architects.
Not only are their homes beautiful, but they are also waterproof!
The saliva holding their nests together contains a hydrophobic protein that protects the whole structure from water damage. How incredible is that?
These nests act as nurseries for the colony’s larvae, providing a safe haven for the soon-to-be wasps to grow and develop, undisturbed.
Amazingly still, these wasps will naturally only inhabit these intricate nests for one year.
By fall, this generation of male wasps will die off and the mated queen will venture off into hibernation, leaving the beautiful nest vacant.
Some folks, aware of this life cycle, like to collect these vacated nests.
By late November, the nests are usually wasp-free and fair game, though you’d likely want to practice great caution when seeking one of these for your collection.
Come springtime, wasp queens also never return to their old nests, so there’s no need to fear any retaliation for claiming one of these vacated nests as your own.
By supplying these wasps with colorful paper, Menchetti was able to help them build a remarkable nest, and learn even more about how these amazing insects construct their homes.
For more of his incredible work, visit Mattia Menchetti's website.
What do you think of this stunning rainbow wasp nest? Let us know in the comments.
Please SHARE this rainbow beauty with anyone interested in the natural world’s wonders!
