Important Pest News that your
local newspaper may have missed!
Hornet Saliva in new Sport Drink
Can drinking the saliva of hornets increase your endurance? In Japan, many
people believe that's what helped propel Olympic marathoner Naoko Takahashi
to her gold medal at the Sydney Games in September. Takahashi is Japan's
first female athlete to ever win a gold medal in track and field.
The drink she chugged both before and during the race is called Vaam.
A similar drink is now being marketed as Vespa in the United States.
It consists of amino acids found in the saliva of baby hornets and apparently
helps burn fat and reduce muscle fatigue during exercise.
Hornets have incredible strength. Adults fly up to 70 miles a day, looking
for other insects to feed on or your family picnic to invade. They then
easily fly their prey - often weighing half the weight of the hornets themselves
- back to their nest. They feed these insects to their young larvae, and
then in a new twist on nursing, swallow the babies saliva in exchange. It's
this saliva that gives the adult hornets their strength and endurance.
This drink has already become a $50 million a year business in Japan. So
the next time you find a hornets nest in your yard, before you call us to
come get rid of it, be sure to take a Q-tip and get up there and swab the
cheeks of all those little critters!
Giant Yellowjacket Nest Found
A giant yellowjacket nest, about the size of a Volkswagon Beetle, was found
recently at the base of a cypress tree in a Miami, Florida, park. The nest
was estimated to weigh 200 pounds and to be about 8 years old. It took a
local pest control company three visits to evict the yellowjackets. We recommend
that if you find a nest this big, please don't try collecting any saliva
before you call us!
That's all the current news. If you find a suitable news item that is pest
related please send it to the Arizona Bug Man, paul@azbugman.com.
Thanks!
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