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Wasps minimize the Costs of Conflict by assessing Rivals Faces

7.29.09 - Aggressive competition over limited resources is costly. As a result, many animals minimize the costs of conflict by using signals to assess rivals. Wasps are known to be much more aggressive than bees. However before they decide to pick up a fight with one another they first judge their opponent based on certain patterns in their faces.

Based on the pattern they are able to assess if they would win or loose the fight. Each wasp has a different pattern on its face. If one wasp meets another one it takes a very close look at its opponent's face. If the patterns tell the wasp that it is most likely to loose a fight it avoids the fight right away. If the rival looks just a little bit stronger or weaker it will go and attack the other wasp. So wasps are very selective with whom they fight. This is what American scientists with Elizabeth Tibbetts from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found out. They did several experiments with wasps and just published their results in the magazine "Royal Society Biology Letters".

The scientists observed the behavior of wasps when they had to defend their food from other wasps. Naturally occurring diversity in the size, shape and number of black facial spots show the wasp's strength and status. In the study the scientist manipulated the facial spots by using paint to add additional spots to the face. The study shows that none or just one spot means the wasp is considered weak while two facial spots give the wasps a higher status.

In her experiment Tibbetts positioned two dead wasps on two pieces of sugar. They then added a couple of wasps that they had starved before for a couple of days to the sugar and observed their behavior. If a hungry wasp was brave enough to start eating on one of the sugar pieces they were considered as willing to fight.

The Result: When the hungry wasps were strong they were more likely to go to the sugar if the guarding wasps had none or little spots in their faces. If the guards had a similar amount of facial spots the wasps were more careful. Wasps with none or little facial spots only dared to get close to the sugar that was guarded by wasps with none or little facial spots.

Based on these results the researchers assume that wasps compare the facial patterns of their rivals with their own. This prevents them for not unnecessarily waste their energy in a fight.

If you want to learn more about backyard animals and their behaviors check out our animals science kit.

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