A typical wasp nest house up to 5000 insect and grows to be about the size of a volleyball . The " super nests " cropping up this summer in Alabama , however , can potentially raise to the size of aVolkswagen Beetle , make normal nests look pocket-sized by comparison . AsScience Alertreports , 2019 is on racetrack to be a record book year for the alarming phenomenon .
At least one or two top-notch nests can be receive in Alabama every summer , but they have n’t been seen in the state on this musical scale in over a decade . The last prison term it happen was in 2006 , when roughly 90 of the behemoths appear in trees , on the priming , and on the walls of houses . That twelvemonth , the first super nest was spot in mid - June . In 2019 they were first recorded in May , suggesting there will be even more of them this summer than there were 13 years ago .
Super nest are one particularly unsettling side effect of a warming clime . usually , wasp population conk out out over the wintertime and give back when it warm up up in the leaping . When the winter is unseasonably tender , as it was this past year in Alabama , wasps survive to form " perennial " nests , or colony that persist through the winter and live to see the fountain . The last yr ’s population of yellow jackets , plus the new brood of insects , form monumental , sprawling nest sometimes big enough to accommodate two queens .
Super nests have been found insidegarages , shed , and even abandoned cars , covering several foot and holding up to 15,000 wasps — making them three times orotund than veritable wasp nest at their peak .
Experts warn that homeowners should never attempt to remove super wasp nests themselves . Yellow jackets are more aggressive than many other types of wasps , and they can sting their victim multiple time . A southerly Alabama man refer James Barron determine that the hard way earlier this yr when he taste to spray a tops nest and got stung 11 clip . If you see a nest , the best thing to do is hire a licensed commercial pest control operator to take care of it , and be aware of where you mistreat in the meanwhile .
[ h / tScience Alert ]
