Cavedale RhônesCame across a Velvet Ant today. Cute little bug that is not an ant, but a wingless wasp with a serious sting. It is nicknamed “Cow Killer”, so you don’t want to mess with them! #Insects
AI6YR Ben@ai6yr You can test it if you want 🤣🫣. According to my 8 year old grandson, the African version which has red fur, is the real Cow Killer. He is a student of dangerous stuff in the world. 😉
W6KME@CavedaleRhones @ai6yr good thing they are such chill things, because they're everywhere here.
@W6KME @CavedaleRhones We have Tarantula Hawks, which I steer clear of. They have a reputation for dispensing immense pain.
@W6KME @silentLurker @CavedaleRhones
HAHAHAHA someone actually got stung by every single one of these insects for this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schmidt_sting_pain_index
h/t @emily
ater@ai6yr @W6KME @silentLurker @CavedaleRhones @emily He also had a protege who got himself stung all over by a honey bee to figure out where it would hurt the worst, giving us this lovely scientific diagram.
(Spoiler: the three most painful locations were the nostril, upper lip, and penis shaft )
JonathanSo ... Hundreds of bees were killed in the making of this picture? 😬
Anyway, it does reaffirm my life advice to people which is always to head butt bees.
"The three least painful locations were the skull, middle toe tip, and upper arm (all scoring a 2.3)."
@jmcrookston Beekeeper's tip: bees will head butt you as a warning BEFORE stinging.
Is that true? I'd believe it because they do warn many times before they sting. The stinging is always the last resort of course
@jmcrookston As a beekeeper, definitely true. if a bee hits you in the head, run and cover your face with your shirt so they don't get you... usually once you're past about 10-20 feet from the hive you're good, unless they are a hot hive, in which case keep going and jump inside a building or a car.
I believe this. I've just never looked up how they warn that they're upset. I figured flybys but smacking into you without stinging also makes sense.
Violet MadderI've heard angry bees smell like bananas. Not sure how close you have to be to pick that up, though.
(happy bees smell of lemongrass)
@violetmadder @jmcrookston Yes, yes they do. Most specifically, fake banana (i.e. the smell of banana runts). If you smell that around a beehive, RUN. (I am a beekeeper, and I have smelled that, and I do not like it one bit. I can't eat or go near anything fake banana flavored, it makes me ill lol... it's a sign of things having gone very wrong).
I came very close to starting some hives of my own and have watched MANY MANY videos on the subject.
It's totally wild to me, how some beekeepers can take a CHAINSAW to a hive in a log, and then just reach in with their bare hands to pull stuff out-- oh here's the queen, yoink-- and the bees are like fine whatevs.
I just walked up to look at a tree that had a hive in the base of it, and got stung on the scalp for being within 10' of the thing and I didn't touch nothin!
(tried to tempt a swarm that came out of that one later but they eschewed the box)
Perhaps you were just dealing with a hive that was good at ...
... thinking outside the box.
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