Next time you’re thinking about buying a car, picture this. In 1963, a wasp nest was discovered on a farm in Waimauku, New Zealand, that was the size of a VW Golf! With a length of 3.7 metres and a diameter of 1.75 metres, the enormous structure holds the Guinness World Record for the largest wasp nest ever recorded.
It’s thought the behemoth was built by German wasps (Vespula germanica), which are a non-native New Zealand species, accidentally introduced over 80 years ago.
The wasps make their nests by mixing wood scrapings with saliva to produce a papier-mâché-like substance, which is then fashioned into hexagonal cells. The structures start small but grow bigger as extra cells are added. The Waimauku nest was found smashed in half under the tree where it had been built.
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In colder climes, such as Europe, the typical German wasp nest doesn’t get much bigger than a football. This is because when the mercury drops, most of the wasps inside the nest die. The structure is abandoned, and fresh nests are built the following year. In New Zealand, however, the winters are milder.
So, what probably happened is that the usual mass die off that should have happened at the end of each summer, didn’t. The colony kept going, worker wasps kept adding cells and the nest kept growing.
The result was buzzing, but it pales into insignificance with another wasp nest, found in 2013, that was bigger than a Cadillac. Police officers were called to the scene in an abandoned house in San Sebastián de La Gomera on the island of Tenerife, after a series of calls from concerned neighbours. There they found a large, nose-shaped structure, butted up against an interior wall.
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This whopper was almost seven metres long and is thought to have been built by a different invasive wasp species, potentially from Africa. The nest was still active, prompting the authorities to cordon off the farmhouse whilst they tried to trace its owners. The size and status of this particular nest is currently unverified by Guiness, but the World Record Academy – a similar organisation based in the US – says “it sets the new world record for the largest wasp nest (indoor)”!
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It spans 6000 km of the coasts of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy – the animal that builds cities - It stretches 106 square metres and spans two countries – and it's home to over one hundred thousand scuttling residents
