Hatrack River Forum: Wasp Queens Cooperating

This is topic Wasp Queens Cooperating in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by mtburr (Member # 9707) on :

I heard a story on National Public Radio on Saturday about some wasp nests (specifically Yellow Jackets) that contained up to 70 queens. They were cooperating rather than fighting to the death as cohabitating queens normally do. Sounds like they've learned something from the Formics!
Also the insect expert they interviewed said the workers of these colonies were less aggressive than regular wasp colonies. In other words, they act more like bees and less like wasps.
Pretty cool. I wonder if OSC predicted this potential behavior or if he had heard something about it way back when he wrote EG. FWIW, the expert made it sound like this was a brand-new phenomenon, at least among wasps.
MTB

Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :

Any way you could find a link about this? I'm no insect expert but as I understand from you it's just uncommon for wasps, not for insects in general. I don't think OSC made any "predictions" with EG, he might have used something he knew/found out and mixed it with the products of his own imagination, but that's different than "seeing the future" of the wasps. [Smile]