Whether it’s an evening under the Friday night lights, NFL Sunday afternoons enjoyed from your backyard, or a pickup game in the park, the beginning of football season is one of the surest heralds of fall’s arrival. We love all things football, but there’s one kind of football you should actively avoid – the wasp kind.
What Are Those Big Black Wasps?
Wasp encounters can be scary. These large, flying insects are known for their painful stings and aggressive nature, and some may even swarm when their nests are disturbed. But not all wasps are quite so fierce, and the great black wasp (sphex pensylvanicus) is one of these. Also known as a katydid hunter, they are a type of solitary digger wasp that can be found across North America.
7 Ways to Have a Bug-Free Backyard Party
Summer means outdoor entertaining and, while you might like large gatherings, you don’t want uninvited guests – like mosquitoes. From the itchy annoyance of bug bites to concerns about mosquito-borne diseases, pests are a big concern for any outdoor gathering. Luckily, there are ways to have a bug-free backyard picnic.
What You Need to Know About the Invasive Joro Spider
Over the past few months, it seems that every media outlet has run some version of the sensational headline, “Giant, Venomous, Flying Spiders to Invade New York This Summer!” The implication is that the joro spider is a terrifying threat and we should prepare for our lives to look like a 1950s sci-fi movie.
While these headlines about the joro spider may be mostly correct in a technical sense, there is no need for the hysteria being whipped up surrounding its impending arrival in the region. This colorful arachnid is indeed on our doorstep, spreading north due to its moderate cold tolerance coupled with a warming climate… but joro spiders are not nearly as frightening as overwrought news segments and clickbait articles portray them.
Tick-Borne Disease: Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS)
It sounds like the plot of a horror movie: an innocent hiker is bitten by a bug, and suddenly they become violently ill every time they eat meat. Their skin erupts in hives, their throat swells, and they’re short of breath. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
As unsettling as it is, this scenario is all too real and is affecting a growing number of people each year. It’s called alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), a tick-borne condition that causes an allergy to alpha-gal… a sugar found in the tissues of most mammalian species. Only primates – which aren’t typically a source of human food – lack alpha-gal. AGS is spread through tick saliva (particularly after the bite of a lone star tick) and results in an allergy to meat, dairy, and other products derived from mammals.
Carpenter Bee or Bumblebee? How to Tell the Difference
Not all bees are created equal. Most happily pollinate plants, make honey, and play their crucial role in the food chain. Others, however, may wreak havoc by being aggressive or destructive. Two rather “friendly” species you may encounter are carpenter bees and bumblebees.
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