dendroica:

nemertea:

carmarthenfan:

viva-la-bees:

coolthingoftheday:

Bees are our friends. 

Wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets exist for literally no other reason than to destroy your happiness. 

Protect bees.

Good rule for telling if it’s a bee or not: if it has a fluffy jumper on, it’s a bee.

Not a bad rule for telling the difference, but…

Wasps are not our enemies. They are diverse, beautiful, interesting organisms, the vast majority of which will never sting you. They are vital parts of the ecosystem. Like bees, they pollinate many of the foods we eat, most famously figs, as well as countless plants that form the basis of diverse ecosystems. Unlike bees, they also control agricultural pest species that would prefer to eat the foods we eat. Without wasps, we would be up to our ears in caterpillars.

Leave wasps alone, and most of them will leave you alone. And even the more aggressive species still have important roles in the ecosystem, just like other species humans find annoying. We are not that special.

(Even the more aggressive species are not actually tiny homicidal killing machines – how do you think the photographer got these nice whitebox photos of live insects if they’re ~so aggressive~? Yes, I know everyone has a story about a yellowjacket that just stung them for “no reason,” but the majority of time they’re like other animals – they sting you if you grab them or mess with their food or nest. Even then, I have stuck a camera a centimeter from paper wasps tending their young and they were fine with it.)

And on a side note, I think it’s really sad that this photographer’s work showing biodiversity, almost certainly made for the Meet Your Neighbors project, was co-opted without his permission to spread unscientific “wasps are evil” bullshit. :-(

Just googling “bees wasps” brings up a parade of fear-mongering lies (wasps don’t pollinate, wasps are never alone, wasps aren’t social, wasps will attack you constantly for no reason). Frankly, I’m really glad most people probably can’t even recognize the majority of wasps as wasps….

Preach it.

carmarthenfan came up with a better response to this than mine.

Reposted from http://ift.tt/1L9q3Ot.