Spiders / Scorpions: Black Widow: Most Venomous Spider in North America

Hornet Vespidae

Hornets eat leaves and tree sap but are also accomplished predators, feeding on flies, bees, and other insects.

Photograph by H.L. Fox/Animals Animals

Map

Hornet Range

Fast Facts

Type:

Bug

Diet:

Omnivore

Average life span in the wild:

Several months (the queen lives through winter)

Size:

1.25 in (3.2 cm)

Group name:

Grist or hive

Size relative to a paper clip:

Hornets are wasps of the genusVespa, closely related to (and resembling) yellowjackets. There are about 20 hornet species. Most live in tropical Asia, but the insects are also found in Europe, Africa, and North America, where the European hornet was introduced by humans.

These social insects construct hives by chewing wood into a papery construction pulp. They mature from egg to adult inside the community hive.

Queens dominate hornet hives and are the only females to reproduce. Most other hornets are asexual female workers that perform essential community duties such as building the hive, gathering food, feeding the young, and protecting the colony. Males are few and they have only one real role—mating with the queen. Males typically die soon after their sexual task is complete.

In colder climes, hornet nests are abandoned in winter and only new, young queens (and their eggs) survive the season by finding protected areas under tree bark or even inside human dwellings. In the spring, such a queen will begin a new nest, and soon her young will become workers and take over the chores of the new hive—leaving the queen to tend to reproduction. She will produce more workers to expand the hive and then, before she dies, yield a breeding generation of new queens and males (drones) to restart the cycle of life.

These insects eat some tree sap but they are also accomplished predators. A hornet hive will eliminate many flies, bees, and other insects.

Workers defend their hive with potent stingers. Though these insects do not sting humans unless provoked, some people are allergic to their venom and can have very dangerous reactions to a sting.

Hornets are often considered pests, particularly when they nest near humans, because they will defend a nest aggressively if they feel it is threatened. Though many people fear their sting, hornets usually get the worst of such encounters when their nests are poisoned or destroyed. In some areas, such as Germany, they are granted protection to preserve their role in the ecosystem.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/hornet/

Living with Skunks

Skunks are found all over Ontario, in forests and towns and cities.  This highly adaptable animal is very common in many cities.

Skunks discharge a bad smelling fluid to defend themselves from threats.

A skunk is not an aggressive animal and will always try to retreat from a human. An angry skunk will growl or hiss, stamp its front feet rapidly, or even walk a short distance on its front feet with its tail high in the air.  Before spraying, it usually humps its back and turns in a U-shaped position so that both the head and tail face the enemy.

Skunks eat a wide variety of foods: insects, mice, shrews, squirrels, young rabbits, birds' eggs, and various plants. During the autumn and winter they eat about equal amounts of plant and animal foods, but eat mainly insects in the summer.

The scent of the skunk is an effective defence against most natural enemies. Nevertheless, it is preyed upon by many large birds.

Conflicts happen

In urban areas, skunks may spray pets or people that startle them.

Skunks can cause damage to lawns and gardens.  They may make homes inside buildings or under porches.

Please keep in mind…

Wild animals have the same basic needs as humans – food, water and shelter. Sometimes, humans and wild creatures come into conflict when animals are trying to meet their basic needs. Often, conflicts can be prevented if we're willing to make small changes to how we think and act.

People and wild animals live side by side in Ontario. We all share responsibility for preventing and handling human-wildlife conflicts. If you must take action against wildlife, please consider all your options and follow all relevant laws and regulations.

Conflicts with Skunks

How Can I Prevent Conflicts?

Limit food sources

• Never feed skunks.
• Feed pets inside and lock pet doors at night.
• To prevent skunks from digging up lawns for grubs, apply natural remedies from garden stores (microscopic worms called "nematodes" can be effective in killing grubs) or lay down one-inch mesh chicken wire.
• Store garbage indoors until collection day.
• Keep compost in containers that keep skunks out while allowing for ventilation.

Make your property unwelcoming

• Block off potential access points to your garage and other buildings.
• Secure the perimeter of decks, sheds and crawl spaces.
• Complete home repairs in the autumn, so mother and young won't be trapped inside.
• Use flashing lights, motion sensors and noise makers to deter skunks.
• You may choose to let skunks occupy an area, such as under a deck, if they don't pose a problem. If you'd like to remove the animals, a wildlife control company can be hired.
• If a skunk gets into your house, stay calm. Close all but one outside door, and let the animal find its own way out.

How Can I Handle a Conflict?

If you encounter a skunk

• If a person or pet is sprayed, the faster you clean up, the more completely you can remove the odour.
• If eyes get irritated, flush them liberally with cold water.  Next, wash with mildly acidic substances such as carbolic soap, tomato juice, diluted vinegar, or the following home remedy: One litre of three per cent hydrogen peroxide solution 80 millilitres of baking soda and 5 millilitres of liquid soap.
• Always mix the solution in a large, open container. Use the entire mixture while it is still bubbling. Wearing rubber gloves, apply the solution, work it into lather, and leave it on for 30 minutes.
• After washing, follow with a long hot shower. You may have to repeat the process two or three times.
• When washing a dog, wash the body first and then the head to keep the dog from shaking off the mixture.

  

Lethal action is a last resort

• Landowners may humanely kill or trap skunks that are damaging or about to damage their property. Firearm regulations and bylaws must be followed.
• You may also hire an agent to act on your behalf. 

 

For more information and assistance…
To locate a local wildlife control agent…
• Speak with your neighbours, family, and friends.
• Look for "animal control" in your phone book or online.

To locate a licensed trapper...
• contact the Ontario Fur Managers Federation at (705) 254-3338 or by e-mail atfurman@furmanagers.com

For information on skunks…
• Call your local Ministry of Natural Resources office or the Natural Resources Information Centre at 1-800-667-1940.
• Check out Hinterland Who’s Who

For information on how to prevent conflicts with skunks….
• Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PDF, 143 KB)
• City of Toronto

Act quickly to avoid spread of bed bugs

List of common household pests

Invertebrates

• ants
  • Argentine ants
  • carpenter ants
  • fire ants
  • odorous house ants
  • pavement ants
  • pharaoh ants
  • thief ants
• aphids
• bed bugs
• bees
• cockroaches
  • brown-banded cockroaches
  • German cockroaches
  • American cockroaches
  • Oriental cockroaches
• beetles
  • woodworms
    • death watch beetles
    • furniture beetles
  • weevils
  • carpet beetles
    • fur beetles
    • varied carpet beetles
  • spider beetles
  • mealworm beetles
• centipedes
  • house centipedes
• earwigs
• earthworms
• terrestrial crabs
• firebrats
• fleas
• snails
• slugs
• crickets
  • house crickets
• flies
  • bottle flies
    • blue bottle flies
    • green bottle flies
  • house flies
  • fruit flies
• hornets
• locusts
• lice
• moths
  • almond moths
  • Indianmeal moths
  • clothes moths
  • gypsy moths
    • common clothes moths
  • brown house moths
• red spiders
• silverfish
• woodlice
• termites
  • dampwood termites
  • subterranean termites
• ticks
• wasps
• woolly bears

Mammals

• bats
  • pipistrelle
• rodents
  • nutria
  • mice
    • field mice
    • house mice
  • rats
    • black rats
    • brown rats
  • voles
    • bank voles
    • field voles
  • muskrats
  • dormice
  • squirrels
    • chipmunks
    • red squirrels
    • eastern gray squirrels
    • fox squirrels
    • marmots
      • groundhogs
    • prairie dogs
      • black-tailed prairie dogs
    • ground squirrels
      • thirteen-lined ground squirrels
      • franklin's ground squirrels
  • gophers
  • beavers
  • kangaroo rats
  • hamsters
  • gerbils
  • porcupines
• rabbits
• hares
• shrews
• moles
• opossums
• raccoons
• foxes
• coyotes
• dingoes
• feral dogs
• felids
  • bobcats
  • servals
  • savannah cats
  • pumas
• skunks
• badgers
• minks
• ferret
• ferrets
• stoats
• mongooses
• bears
• hedgehogs
• deer
• camels
• wild pigs
  • wild boars
• blackbuck

Birds

• sparrows
• starlings
• grackles
• crows
• gulls
  • seagulls
• ducks
• geese
• swallows
• killdeer
• sandpipers
• pigeons
  • rock pigeons
    • feral pigeons
  • collared doves

Reptiles

• Lizards
• Snakes
• Box Turtles

Pests that require Control!

Pest (organism)

Carpet beetle larvae damaging a specimen of Sceliphron destillatorius in an entomological collection

A pest is "a plant or animal detrimental to humans or human concerns (as agriculture or livestock production)";^[1] alternative meanings include organisms that cause nuisance and epidemic disease associated with high mortality (specifically: plague). In its broadest sense, a pest is a competitor of humanity.^[2] In the past, the term might have been used for detrimental animals only, thus for example, causing confusion where the generic term 'pesticide' meant 'insecticide' to some people. It is any living organism which is invasive or prolific, detrimental, troublesome, noxious, destructive, a nuisance to either plants or animals, human or human concerns, livestock, human structures, wild ecosystems, etc. It is a loosely defined term, often overlapping with the related terms vermin, weed, plant and animal parasites and pathogens. It is possible for an organism to be a pest in one setting but beneficial, domesticated or acceptable in another.[edit]

Pests often occur in high densities, making the damage they do even more detrimental

Often animals are derided as pests as they cause damage to agriculture by feeding on crops or parasitising livestock, such as codling moth on apples, orboll weevil on cotton. An animal could also be a pest when it causes damage to a wild ecosystem or carries germs within human habitats. Examples of these include those organisms which vector human disease, such as rats and fleas which carry the plague disease, mosquitoes which vector malaria, and ticks which carry Lyme disease.

The term pest may be used to refer specifically to harmful animals but is also often taken to mean all harmful organisms including weeds, plant pathogenic fungi and viruses. Pesticides are chemicals and other agents (e.g. beneficial micro-organisms) that are used to control or protect other organisms from pests. The related term vermin has much overlap with pest, but generally only includes those creatures that are seen to be vectors of diseases.

It is possible for an animal to be a pest in one setting but beneficial or domesticated in another (for example, European rabbits introduced to Australiacaused ecological damage beyond the scale they inflicted in their natural habitat). Many weeds (plant pests) are also seen as useful under certain conditions, for instance Patterson's curse is often valued as food for honeybees and as a wildflower, even though it can poison livestock.

The term "plant pest" has a very specific definition in terms of the International Plant Protection Convention and phytosanitary measures worldwide. A pest is any species, strain or biotype of plant, animal, or pathogenic agent injurious to plants or plant products.^[3]

Plants may be considered pests if an invasive species. Any prolific animal or plant may be considered pests.

The greatest importance as pests (in the order of economic importance) are insects, mites, nematodes and gastropods.^[4]

Invertebrate pests

Insects

Further information: Insect bites and stings, Pest insects, and Category:Pest insects

Caterpillars cause crop damage

Termites cause structural damage

• Ants, cockroaches, flies and wasps are household pests, typically as they consume human food
• Aphids, larvae, grasshoppers and crickets cause damage to crop plants
• Lice, fleas and bed bugs can all cause skin irritation
• Mosquitoes, tsetse flies and kissing bugs cause irritation and carry disease
• Termites, silverfish, woodworm and wood ants cause structural damage
• Bookworms, carpet beetles and clothes moths cause non-structural damage
• Gypsy moths attack hardwood trees (see Gypsy moths in the United States)

Nematodes[edit]

• Root-knot nematode
• Soybean cyst nematode
• Potato cyst nematode

Parasites[edit]

• Chiggers cause skin irritation
• Sarcoptes scabiei causes scabies
• Ticks and mites cause irritation and can spread disease

Gastropods[edit]

Some slugs are pests in both agriculture and gardens. Their significance is increasing drastically.^[4] Deroceras reticulatum is a worldwide distributed slug pest.^[4] Local importance slug pests include: Deroceras spp.,^[4] Milax spp.,^[4] Tandonia sp.,^[4] Limax spp.,^[4] Arion spp.^[4] and some species ofVeronicellidae:^[4] Veronicella sloanei.^[5]

Land snail pests include:

• Helix aspersa damages citrus fruits in California,^[4]
• Cernuella virgata, Theba pisana and Cochlicella spp. decrease quality of grains when harvested with the product in South Australia.^[4]
• Achatina fulica damages vegetables and ornamental plants in the Pacific region.
• Succinea costaricana damages ornamental plants in Costa Rica.^[6]
• Ovachlamys fulgens damages ornamental plants and orchids in Costa Rica.^[7]
• Other species considered to be pests include: Amphibulima patula dominicensis,^[5] Zachrysia provisoria^[5] and Bradybaena similaris.^[5]

Freshwater snail pests include:

• Pomacea canaliculata damages rice in Southeast Asia.^[4]
• Bulinus sp., Biomphalaria spp. and Oncomelania are intermediate hosts of schistosomes causing schistosomiasis.^[4]
• Various species in Lymnaeidae are intermediate hosts of fasciolosis.^[4]

Plant pathogens

Further information: Plant disease, lists of plant diseases

Plant pests

Further information: Invasive plant species and Weeds

Seagulls steal human food

Mammals

• Mice, rats, and other small rodents cause infestations
• Foxes, opossums, raccoons, and bears eat waste
• Gophers, groundhogs, and moles destroy lawns
• Feral cats and feral dogs eat human food and carry disease
• White-tailed deer are now seen as pests in many suburban and exurban areas of the US, though not in more rural areas.
• Coyotes prey upon livestock
• Bats spread disease with their feces. Also, fruit-eating bats eat stored human food.
• Eastern Grey Squirrels are seen as pests in Britain and Ireland because of the decline of Red Squirrel populations
• Wild boars damage crops, spread disease, and prey upon livestock

Birds

• Pigeons and seagulls eat human food and carry disease^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}
• Many birds, such as crows, eat crops
• Canada Goose; non-migratory birds of this species are now widely regarded as pests in the United States (see Canada Goose#Relationship with humans).
• Woodpeckers peck at rooftops and also nest in them. They cause structural damage to homes (specifically houses).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_(organism)