Page 94 - World of Animals - Issue #39

Animal answers

questions@animalanswers.co.uk

Why do

wasps sting?

Have you ever noticed that wasps
only tend to bother us humans in late
summer when we’re having drinks or
food in the garden? That’s because
the wasps that generally sting are not
solitary, but social wasps searching for
something sweet to eat.
Social wasps live in colonies
with a reproductive queen, a male
reproductive drone and female worker
wasps. Worker wasps spend most of
the year searching for food because
once the queen lays her eggs, it is
their job to feed the larvae with soft
invertebrates like caterpillars. In turn,
the larvae produce a sweet liquid,
which the worker wasps feed on.
When the queen stops laying eggs
and the larvae are fully developed
the worker wasps have nothing to
eat, so they head out in search of
alternative sugary foods. Wasps do not
alternative sugary foods. Wasps do not
tend to sting humans unless they feel
tend to sting humans unless they feel
threatened – for instance, when they
threatened – for instance, when they
are being swatted away – so stay calm
are being swatted away – so stay calm
and don’t swat!
and don’t swat!

False widow
spiders can
be found in
sheds, lo s and

conservatories

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ABOVE Lamprey are Are there poisonous
jawless fi sh with long,
jawless fi sh with long,
eel-like bodies covered in
eel-like bodies covered in
spiders in the UK?
a mucous substance
a mucous substance
Do all fish have scales? There are no poisonous spiders, however there are venomous

spiders in the UK. The difference is that venomous animals inject the

There are four types of fish scales: placoid and although most fish do have them, toxin with a bite or sting, whereas poisonous animals secrete them

(which sharks and rays have), cycloid (the there are fish that don’t – like hagfish and through the skin. The false widow spider has the reputation of being
most common form of scale on bony fish), lampreys. Scales serve as a protective Britain’s most venomous spider, and while it has been known to bite

cosmoid (for example on lungfish) and layering for fish, but instead of scales, humans, it is not aggressive so cases of this are rare. If a false widow

ganoid (which sturgeons have). Scales these fish are covered in mucus, which spider does bite a human, it can cause swelling and discomfort, but

come in all different shapes and sizes, helps keep their so bodies protected.

even the worst cases last only a few days.
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