Summary
Yellowjackets aren't bees -- they're wasps that hunt meat and live in busy paper nests. Deep Look shows how a yellowjacket colony works together to feed its young and defend the nest.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
A yellowjacket colony has workers that hunt, build and guard while the queen lays eggs. By dividing the jobs, the group raises far more young and defends the nest better than any single wasp could alone.
- What different jobs do yellowjackets do in their colony?
- How does sharing the work help the whole nest?
- Why is living in a group useful for these wasps?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: colony, worker, queen, behavior.
Try it: List the jobs in a yellowjacket nest (hunt, build, guard). Write how sharing jobs helps the colony survive.