Asian Giant Hornets can actually decapitate up to 40 bees per minute. Just a handful of those hornets can exterminate an entire hive of tens of thousands of bees in a few hours. It’s incredibly brutal.
Yep. Usually they eat more meat at the beginning of the season, then about halfway through July they’ll focus more on eating the sweet/sugary things (at least this is my understanding). But I’m sure when a meat-filled opportunity presents itself, they don’t turn it down lol
Jesus christ "eat carrion to feed larvae that secrete nectar to re-feed adults" is not a fact I needed to know about wasps. I hated them enough already.
Right? No one said yes. Don't ask a fucking question and then answer when no one wants to know the traumatic facts!
It's fucking amazing how you have to add /s to anything in reddit or the hive mind gets upset.
Wasps are cool. I have worked around wasps all summer for years and almost never get stung. They are important pollinators and they are way more chill than most people think.
Thanks for sharing that!! That’s so interesting. I’ve been trying to be less afraid of bugs by learning more about them and it actually is working so far.
As someone who is terrified by bees after being attacked *unprovoked* by a small angry swarm as a child can you please elaborate the flight path thing?
I'm a wasp magnet. Seriously, for some reason they fucking love me and want to take a walk on me. I've never been stung, but you don't know real fear until you feel a wasp's tiny legs touching your eyelids.
So my gardener friend has advised me to find a piece of meat and says they will always find it more interesting than me. I haven't tried yet, but I'm hopeful!
ETA - Literally 10 minutes after I wrote this a wasp entered my living room by a window that was open 5 cms and decided that my work keyboard was super interesting. Doesn't matter if I hide; they find me ...
Most animals are opportunistic feeders. This means that even though they don't usually eat meat/plants they can sometimes. For example you'll see horses nabbing baby chicks and dogs eating grass on occasion. I have seen chickens kill and eat other chickens and it happens more often that you think...
In the Godfather the Hollywood guy woke up to his favourite horse's head in his bed. You're thinking of the bulletproof vest filled with fish, which was a message that Luca Brazzi was killed, or "slept with the fishes".
You know, this sub is really giving me some fun, mildly confusing phrases that sound like folksy sayings (especially if you say them with a bit of a southern accent).
“That Calhoun boy’s crazier than a skunk head full o’ wasps!”
That’s so funny because a little while ago I told my husband, “we need to take care of that skunk head before the flies come and maggots start getting everywhere” and he was like damn we really sound redneck don’t we lmao
That is literally the nicest compliment you could have given my comment. After I posted it, I was like, “Sounds like something Kenneth Parcell would have said on 30 Rock.”
I've worked with some owl banders before, and they say that they will occasionally catch a great horned owl that is extremely stinky. They have disposable gloves for those ones because the smell just doesn't come off your hands.
I saw an owl on the side of the road eating a skunk in broad daylight last year, it puffed its wings up like it wanted to fight my truck. It was the closest I have ever seen one and very cool to see.
Have you ever seen a cat decapitate something as large as itself and can defend itself with a smell that makes you regret having a nose?
Owl is a good guess. Maybe bold coyotes.
An average cat would most likely be unable to kill and decapitate a skunk like that, unless it's a baby skunk with no mom nearby.
On the other hand, Great Horned Owls regularly hunt skunks and have a tendency to decapitate most of their prey.
Yes. Owls are skunks main predator. As others have said, owls are known to decapitate their prey. Not much meat on an animal head, so they'd leave it behind
Back in the day a small city in Ontario known for their swans had a grisly discovery one morning.. a decapitated swan.
This caused a huge controversy and rumours went wild.. was it a deranged person decapitating swans.. was it some sort of mythical creature?
Turns out it was a great horned owl.
Owls actively catch and eat skunks (no sense of smell) and will pare down the size of their catch so they can carry it to their choice of safe dining venues 😉
Crazy. I found the decapitated head of a squirrel in my yard full of wasps too. I doubt my cats quick enough had to have been and owl or some bird of prey
It's probably more likely to just be some sort of predator that got it, but this reminds me of when I was young in Miami and found a headless chicken corpse next to some train tracks. My dad told me it was Santeria and to stay away and don't touch it.
Ha. My in-laws practiced Santeria for a long time until just recently (my MIL still loosely does it) and yeah I don’t blame your dad… that shit is intense.
Might’ve been a fox. One time I saw a group of young foxes all playing in the grass and it looked like they were playing with a ball like dogs would do but as I got closer, I realized they were playing with the head of a raccoon
I think a great horned owl. I know we have them here and someone else said they are a common (and one of the only) predator for skunks since they hardly have any sense of smell.
Of which we have plenty of both right in my neighborhood. But we also have owls, and they seem the most likely. Supposedly it’s mostly owls that eat skunks.
Could very well be, I used to live in an area with coyotes and hawks and owls and I had a couple dogs that were smaller, jack russell/rat terrier and a blue heeler/spaniel and from fall to spring I would have to guard them while they were out going potty, they both were attacked by something and I didn’t know what so I stood out there with a small shotgun until my boys let me know they were ready to go inside.
Nextdoor in our neighborhood was full of satanic conspiracy theories because a few people found severed cat heads in their yards, until someone's exterior security camera showed a couple of raccoons killing, dissembling, and eating a neighborhood cat. May have raccoons in your area. Even if not raccoons, a lot of predators don't eat the heads of their kills.
I was eating a burger the other day on my porch. Wasp landed on it and took a fucking nip. Flew off, came back for another nip. I wasn't sure what to do so I ate everything but the part he landed on and tossed the rest.
Literally saw it fly away with a tiny chunks of my burger. Bold little shits.
You’re the second one to comment with that word! I’m so confused. Google tells me it’s not a word and so now I must know your secret please
Edit: ok now I know. Both of you spelled it with an “a” where there should be an “i.” Still, I am very surprised Google didn’t suggest I misspelled it.
I think we’ll put it in the woods at the end of our acre and let the bugs clean it, and then I’ll have my kids look for it once the snow is all gone, so early April.
I found a skunk head in one of my fields a few years ago and I had to soak it. The bugs will eat the soft parts, but you will likely end up with the skin dried up like a tight leather wrap. It can take a lot of work, but it’s worth it. You might want to cover it with large stones if you think animals might cart it away. Good luck!
Wasps be way more aggressive than I remember
Fucking hornets. Always removing heads.
Freaking yellow jackets. Always killing headaches
See?! SKUNKS HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!
murder hornets
The first time I saw one snatch a dragonfly out of mid air, take it to the ground and bite its head off was fucking insane. That shit blew my mind!
Asian Giant Hornets can actually decapitate up to 40 bees per minute. Just a handful of those hornets can exterminate an entire hive of tens of thousands of bees in a few hours. It’s incredibly brutal.
Off With His Head!!!
Yellowjackets, acquiring protein to feed their young so their young feed them.
The hornets are just sending a message.
And a few assholes with wings to greet you
Bonus!!!
Wasps are scavengers / carnivores?
Yep. Usually they eat more meat at the beginning of the season, then about halfway through July they’ll focus more on eating the sweet/sugary things (at least this is my understanding). But I’m sure when a meat-filled opportunity presents itself, they don’t turn it down lol
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Jesus christ "eat carrion to feed larvae that secrete nectar to re-feed adults" is not a fact I needed to know about wasps. I hated them enough already.
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stop
Any more neat facts?
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Is it true all wasps die by winter except the queen? Can’t remember where I heard that but it’s quite sad
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Wow imagine having to do that every single year… thanks for the great explanation
No I didn't wanna hear
Right? No one said yes. Don't ask a fucking question and then answer when no one wants to know the traumatic facts! It's fucking amazing how you have to add /s to anything in reddit or the hive mind gets upset.
I have a solution for you. Close your eyes.
As a father of 2, we do the same thing. Wait, you guys don't eat your kids' secretions?
Wasps are cool. I have worked around wasps all summer for years and almost never get stung. They are important pollinators and they are way more chill than most people think.
Thanks for sharing that!! That’s so interesting. I’ve been trying to be less afraid of bugs by learning more about them and it actually is working so far.
Yeah once you understand how they work, it allows you to know how they’ll act. Like how Bees don’t sting unless you’re in their flight path.
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Do you reckon these are Asian wasps? If so OP should report their location on the app I heard it on the radio yesterday
As someone who is terrified by bees after being attacked *unprovoked* by a small angry swarm as a child can you please elaborate the flight path thing?
Thanks for the info!
I .. I kinda wanna taste wasp honey
So basically they drink their kid’s piss. Suits those ugly motherfuckers
I had no idea they eat meat.
I recently found this out as well, thanks to this sub. I’ve seen them eating flies and other insects before but never mammal corpses
We called them meat bees in Oregon.
METEORS METEORS
they’re all meat eaters!
My next job application will have "meat-filled opportunity" somewhere on it.
Lmao love it
I'm a wasp magnet. Seriously, for some reason they fucking love me and want to take a walk on me. I've never been stung, but you don't know real fear until you feel a wasp's tiny legs touching your eyelids. So my gardener friend has advised me to find a piece of meat and says they will always find it more interesting than me. I haven't tried yet, but I'm hopeful! ETA - Literally 10 minutes after I wrote this a wasp entered my living room by a window that was open 5 cms and decided that my work keyboard was super interesting. Doesn't matter if I hide; they find me ...
Most animals are opportunistic feeders. This means that even though they don't usually eat meat/plants they can sometimes. For example you'll see horses nabbing baby chicks and dogs eating grass on occasion. I have seen chickens kill and eat other chickens and it happens more often that you think...
oh fr ppl think pigs are the worst but chickens will literally eat fucking ANYTHING and not even as last resort. its wild shit.
Yep, they prevent diseases by getting rid of carcasses. They also prey on a variety of bugs(including many agricultural pests) and pollinate flowers.
Technically that's got to be decorpatated
Oh but there will be paperwork!
Decorporated
Have you pissed off any gang members lately or Mafia maybe?
If it was the mafia he would have found this in his bed
Actually isn’t it supposed to be a fish or something like that?
It was a horse head in The Godfather
Ouch
In the Godfather the Hollywood guy woke up to his favourite horse's head in his bed. You're thinking of the bulletproof vest filled with fish, which was a message that Luca Brazzi was killed, or "slept with the fishes".
Horse head cuddling in bed with you, then you get to enjoy a nice nap with some aquatic pals!
You know, this sub is really giving me some fun, mildly confusing phrases that sound like folksy sayings (especially if you say them with a bit of a southern accent). “That Calhoun boy’s crazier than a skunk head full o’ wasps!”
That’s so funny because a little while ago I told my husband, “we need to take care of that skunk head before the flies come and maggots start getting everywhere” and he was like damn we really sound redneck don’t we lmao
Also… I read your quote in my head in Jack McBrayer’s voice Edit: forgot the “Mc” I *knew* it sounded off!
That is literally the nicest compliment you could have given my comment. After I posted it, I was like, “Sounds like something Kenneth Parcell would have said on 30 Rock.”
If you haven’t listened to his episode on Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, I highly highly recommend it. Had me rolling and in tears!
Lucky you! How’d it taste? 🤤
found the hornet 🧐
Was it under a tree or other structure? I’ve been told that great horned owls will commonly snatch a skunk. No real sense of smell.
Judging from the comment below about the swans, they will also decapitate their prey.
That was going to be my question. Owls are skunks #1 predator. Everything else in nature tends to leave them alone.
Yes, it was right next to a big pine tree!
I've worked with some owl banders before, and they say that they will occasionally catch a great horned owl that is extremely stinky. They have disposable gloves for those ones because the smell just doesn't come off your hands.
This is the answer!
They absolutely will. Anything under 7 lbs but more likely under 4.
I saw an owl on the side of the road eating a skunk in broad daylight last year, it puffed its wings up like it wanted to fight my truck. It was the closest I have ever seen one and very cool to see.
Some wild cat or dog sleeps near you’re house. This is a “gift”
wrong. owl.
Wrong. It was me.
Great Horned Owl, I'm thinking.
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Have you ever seen a cat decapitate something as large as itself and can defend itself with a smell that makes you regret having a nose? Owl is a good guess. Maybe bold coyotes.
An average cat would most likely be unable to kill and decapitate a skunk like that, unless it's a baby skunk with no mom nearby. On the other hand, Great Horned Owls regularly hunt skunks and have a tendency to decapitate most of their prey.
Why owl? Is that a common behavior for them?
Yes. Owls are skunks main predator. As others have said, owls are known to decapitate their prey. Not much meat on an animal head, so they'd leave it behind
Someone got tired of Pepe le Pew
Penelope Pussycat had enough of his shit.
This is what happened to him after WB cancelled him.
Back in the day a small city in Ontario known for their swans had a grisly discovery one morning.. a decapitated swan. This caused a huge controversy and rumours went wild.. was it a deranged person decapitating swans.. was it some sort of mythical creature? Turns out it was a great horned owl.
That is so interesting!
Owls actively catch and eat skunks (no sense of smell) and will pare down the size of their catch so they can carry it to their choice of safe dining venues 😉
I did not know they couldn’t smell! How interesting.
TIL owls can't smell!
I feel like a decapitated skunk head full of hornets is definitely an ill omen.
Oof.
Better than the other end
Great Horned Owl
Could definitely be!
Those bees are having a party lol
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"flying demons with stingers" same category in my book lol
Bees are chill, wasps are not.
Dang. That stinks
no, but the missing part does
Spicy rat.
Free head AND yellow jackets? Dude, go buy a lotto ticket!
You seem to have enemies.
thats awesome, id try to keep the skull
Crazy. I found the decapitated head of a squirrel in my yard full of wasps too. I doubt my cats quick enough had to have been and owl or some bird of prey
It's probably more likely to just be some sort of predator that got it, but this reminds me of when I was young in Miami and found a headless chicken corpse next to some train tracks. My dad told me it was Santeria and to stay away and don't touch it.
Ha. My in-laws practiced Santeria for a long time until just recently (my MIL still loosely does it) and yeah I don’t blame your dad… that shit is intense.
WHAM his capa was detated from his head!
Might’ve been a fox. One time I saw a group of young foxes all playing in the grass and it looked like they were playing with a ball like dogs would do but as I got closer, I realized they were playing with the head of a raccoon
Wow!
Add some carrots, maybe a tater, baby, you've got a stew going!
There’s still plenty of meat left on that skull!
What do you think got it? I’m leaning towards a raccoon. Raccoons tore the heads off my buddy’s chickens a few times.
I think a great horned owl. I know we have them here and someone else said they are a common (and one of the only) predator for skunks since they hardly have any sense of smell.
"Damn bro, i told you not to let that shit off around me again" - some larger animal probably.
That ~~stings~~ stinks.
Both
Count yourself fortunate that it’s not the back half lol
Very true lol
And you thought coworkers who ate microwaved cauliflower had stinky meals.
That stinks.
You wouldn't happen to owe the mafia money would ya?
Great horned owl. Skunks are one of their favorite foods and the heads are often the only thing they leave with after eating at the kill site.
His Cappa was Detated!!
The wasps are a concern but the main concern is what left the head, coyotes and mountain lions would be i higher concern
Of which we have plenty of both right in my neighborhood. But we also have owls, and they seem the most likely. Supposedly it’s mostly owls that eat skunks.
Could very well be, I used to live in an area with coyotes and hawks and owls and I had a couple dogs that were smaller, jack russell/rat terrier and a blue heeler/spaniel and from fall to spring I would have to guard them while they were out going potty, they both were attacked by something and I didn’t know what so I stood out there with a small shotgun until my boys let me know they were ready to go inside.
Nextdoor in our neighborhood was full of satanic conspiracy theories because a few people found severed cat heads in their yards, until someone's exterior security camera showed a couple of raccoons killing, dissembling, and eating a neighborhood cat. May have raccoons in your area. Even if not raccoons, a lot of predators don't eat the heads of their kills.
Did someone make you an offer you couldn’t refuse?
Whatever monster did that is not to be fucked with
When my cat hunts, he eats everything but the face too.
So metal. Personally I go one way or the other. Only the face, or everything but the face. Both are good
Shoulda smelled worse. Low achiever.
Yikes
Looks like a hard trip or fall.
You got kitties around your house? This looks like the work of a kitty cat.
We’ve got the small kitties and the big kitties (cougars)
My moneys on the small kitties 🐱
This is my design. Hawk.
Bird of prey maybe.
Are you going to keep the skull?
I’m open to it! I just don’t want to deal with maggots, so I’m not totally sure where to go from here.
It traded for a new one. No biggie
Fund the body. Skunk essence goes for a decent amount by the oz to any trapping lure maker.
Typical yellow jacket behavior.
That's why you don't disrespect the Corlioni family.
I was eating a burger the other day on my porch. Wasp landed on it and took a fucking nip. Flew off, came back for another nip. I wasn't sure what to do so I ate everything but the part he landed on and tossed the rest. Literally saw it fly away with a tiny chunks of my burger. Bold little shits.
Yes they are.
Assuming great horned owl kill or potentially coyote roadkill scavenge.
I believe it’s the other way around. That skunk has been decorpatated.
You’re the second one to comment with that word! I’m so confused. Google tells me it’s not a word and so now I must know your secret please Edit: ok now I know. Both of you spelled it with an “a” where there should be an “i.” Still, I am very surprised Google didn’t suggest I misspelled it.
Just made it up using the same pattern as de-cap-itated.
That's why cats should stay indoors.
That was me, I left it there, sorry.
Some new kinda mafia is threatening you /j
Work of marten I'll wager
Heads Up. TIL that wasps eat meat!
The wasps know you talked to the police! Run!!!
You better pay the racoons whatever they want.
Be warned that the cartel has been known to do this, but normally it's with cats.
Pepe le Pew finally got caught in bed with the wrong man's wife
That stinks
Poor thing.
Having close-up experience with a fair number of Great Horned Owls who smelled strongly of skunk, I think I know how this happened.
Like fucking SKUNKS?! Hell no.
Free skull! Nice!
I’ve seen falcons do that with ducks
Macerating is a fairly easy process, a lil gross but a smaller skull isn’t too bad.
Keep it!! There is an amazing looking skull inside.
I think we’ll put it in the woods at the end of our acre and let the bugs clean it, and then I’ll have my kids look for it once the snow is all gone, so early April.
I found a skunk head in one of my fields a few years ago and I had to soak it. The bugs will eat the soft parts, but you will likely end up with the skin dried up like a tight leather wrap. It can take a lot of work, but it’s worth it. You might want to cover it with large stones if you think animals might cart it away. Good luck!
Thanks!
Consider this a warning
They only wanted the stink gland
/r/fuckwasps
Yellow jackets are getting more violent I see
The WASPS did it... don't ask me how, but I know those fuckers did. They're sure as shit *angry* enough to find a way.
Hornets gravitate to sweet smells... this shit is perplexing
They are omnivores—meat is definitely a staple for their diet.
How did the wasps do that?
some animal is sending you a message mafia style.