Rudy Mancke helps a listener identify the distinctively shaped nest of a potter wasp.
Transcript (edited for clarity):
RUDY MANCKE:
Hi, this is Rudy Mancke from USC for NatureNotes.
Somebody emailed me about a small pot-shaped thing that was stuck to a branch of a plant, and it was a beautifully formed pot. I mean, it was shaped like a pot that a human being would make, like the work of a potter. So guess what you call the wasp that makes it? A potter wasp.
And it's a solitary wasp, which means they just very rarely sting. Once it's built the nest, the female paralyzes a couple of caterpillars, puts them in, lays an egg, and then the caterpillars change into a wasp. Recycling is what we call it. Isn't it an amazing world out there?
