Wasps don’t exactly win popularity contests, so why is the federal government releasing millions of them in 24 states — on purpose? First of all, these aren’t what you think of when you think of wasps. They’re tiny, they aren’t yellow, and they don’t sting humans. These wasps are actually on our side: a bug army deployed in a desperate attempt to save our dying trees.
The US Department of Agriculture hopes that these special wasps will be a key ally in the fight against emerald ash borers, invasive beetles whose larvae have destroyed trees across vast swaths of northern and eastern America in just a few decades. READ MORE
Advertisement
