I love vultures, mosquitoes and, yes, even wasps. This is why you should too | Jo Wimpenny
A a wasp has just flown into your kitchen. Do you: a) scream and run away; b) roll up a magazine and try to break it; or c) open a window and let it out? Now imagine that it is a bee: do you react the same way?
Our emotional reactions to other animals on this planet are diverse, complex and often irrational, and our contrasting perceptions of wasps and bees are a fantastic example of this. Bees are positively associated with honey, flowers and pollination, while wasps are negatively associated with stings, pain and discomfort – all this despite the fact that bees can obviously sting, while wasps are also important pollinators. The same goes for other pairs of animals: sharks are senseless killers, while dolphins are models of benevolence; vultures are ugly and sinister, while eagles are majestic. I’m here to say we’re all wrong.
If we were to realize the wish of many people to rid the world of wasps, the short-term benefits of being able to picnic in peace would be far outweighed by the long-term problems. Wasps are chronically neglected pollinators, which should not be surprising considering that over the course of evolution, a lineage of wasps gave rise to bees. They are also free and very effective pest controllers. Parasitic wasps are specialist assassins and are already deployed in agriculture; Social wasps (including familiar “nuisances”) are generalist predators and will eliminate aphids, caterpillars, moths and more. Together they make a formidable team, and all without chemicals in sight.
When it comes to large predators, it is completely rational to be afraid of encountering a venomous snake, grizzly bear, tiger, or other creature that could threaten life. On the other hand, the global fear of sharks far outweighs the damage they cause: last year, there were 65 unprovoked shark bites, resulting in 12 deaths. Each of these is a tragedy, but the level of concern and sensationalism inherent in most reporting is not only exaggerated, it also diminishes the fact that sharks, and their close relatives the rays, are in deep trouble. As the second most endangered group of vertebrate animals, behind amphibians, more than 30% of all shark and ray species are threatened with extinction, and approximately 100 million of them continue to be killed each year.
Sharks have been around for almost 500 million years; they evolved even before trees and survived five mass extinctions. They range from peaceful plankton-feeding giants like whale sharks, to pocket-sized dwarf lantern sharks, to phenomenally bizarre hammerhead sharks. Thanks to us, they are facing their biggest challenge yet.
Popular culture would have you believe that sharks, wasps, snakes, and mosquitoes are evil, but there is no scientific evidence that these creatures have the cognitive capacity to perform such sophisticated mental feats. A wasp simply detects something wonderfully sweet in its environment and wants to check it out, and the more you try to swat it away, the more likely it is to fight back. I think you would do the same thing.
Sharks are not bad guys, but species like great white sharks are top predators and they are curious to see the seal-sized mammals bobbing on the surface: we need to be aware of this when we enter their domain. Likewise, venomous snakes are not out to “get us”: the late herpetologist Clifford Pope put it perfectly when he said: “Snakes are first cowards, then bluffers, and finally warriors.” » Unfortunately, when they feel threatened enough to strike, the consequences can be devastating. Likewise, mosquitoes do not bite us out of malice: the biters are the females who need proteins present in our blood to develop their eggs.
Once we dissociate animals’ capacity to harm from their moral status and begin to view them in animal, not human, terms, we can begin to see their true nature. They are no longer simply “good” or “bad” people, they are living beings who do what they do to survive. Unfortunately, conflicts arise. And although we are the ones encroaching on their territories, these conflicts usually revolve around the need to control “intruding” animals. The exceptions are animals that are attractive, interesting, or useful enough for people to care about them.
We cannot afford to be so blasé about the animals we are driving to extinction. It’s time to start appreciating unloved beasts, both for the vital ecological roles many of them play and for their intrinsic value – many of these creatures are more sentient and cognitively complex than we imagine. Would we care more if we knew that snakes protect their babies, that vultures use tools, that alligators dance to attract mates, or that rats help their friends?
We also need to understand that species do not live in isolation and therefore we cannot simply choose which animals we want to live with. You can’t say, “Well, I’d like to have hedgehogs and robins in the garden, but I don’t want aphids and slugs.” » Nature doesn’t work that way: hedgehogs and blackbirds won’t stick around for long if you’ve destroyed the shrubs of all invertebrate life. Everything is connected and nothing survives in isolation. Humanity included.
