Is the rapid depletion of forests and shrub land responsible for dwindling of paper wasps in Adilabad? Whatever, the phenomenon is the cause of some concern for adivasis in the agency area who share a symbiotic relationship with the wasps with a deadly sting.
The papery nest of the wasp, resembling the cellular beehive but much smaller in size is fed to hens and bullocks to arouse anger in them. The hens, according to the belief of the adivasis, display such anger which scares even ferocious birds of prey intending to swoop on its brood of chicks.
Atram Mutha, a Kolam tribal elder, says feeding mother hens with the wasp nest and raising their instinct of anger and fight has been the only way since ages to protect meek chicks from attacks by birds like the kestrel and crows. “The nest is also fed to the meek among bullocks so that they can protect themselves from the bully types within the cattle,” he added.
Tribal people living in the interiors and in forest fringes are worried over dwindling of the wasps which build nests on smaller trees and shrubs. “The wasps seem to be completely avoiding greenery within human habitations and it has become difficult to find the nests even in the forests these days,” Mutha pointed out.
