You’ll find velvet ants in a variety of colours, including shades of yellow, brown, red, and black.
Regardless of their colour, they’re all fuzzy and relatively easy to identify.
Their bright colouring is not a coincidence.
Rather, it’s nature’s way of saying, “Hey! Don’t mess with me!“
But unless you try to cause trouble by swatting at one, you don’t need to worry too much about that sting as they’re not known to be aggressive.
Living for only about a year, velvet ants will spend most of their brief life looking for a mate.
Velvet ants are parasitic, often laying their eggs in the nests of other wasps or ground-nesting bees.
Once born, the velvet ant grub will consume everything in the nest.
And as long as they make it out of their grub or pupae stage, it’s smooth sailing from there!
Adult velvet ants live primarily on nectar and water, just like many other wasps or bees.
With healthy populations around the world, there’s little worry of velvet ants going anywhere anytime soon.
If you live in a dry region, take a look around on the sand and rocks during a warm summer day, and you might spot one of these colourful insects for yourself!
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