DOOD.

Warning: there are KILLER BEES in South Central Wisconsin.

Well ... that's what my coworker walked into work saying today. He told me he's seen these GIANT bees since he got to Madison three years ago, but no one's believed him. So naturally, since the sighting was in bushes just down the hill from us, we decided to go get one.

It was intriguing. And so scary.

I thought they were small birds. I could tell from VERY far away that these bees (wasps actually, as we found out later) were GINORMOUS. A few made a beeline near our faces and my life flashed before my eyes. We, uh, kind of disrupted parking lot traffic trying to get away, much to the amusement of the drivers.

Oh it was horrifying, but we had to get us a dang WASP! My coworker swung left and right with a net while I kept a safe distance. I mean ... uh ... I valiantly helped him!

When he snagged one (not the biggest, but satisfying enough given we're both allergic), I swooped in with a plastic jar and we slowly but surely got our catch.

The wasp frightened us all the way back up to our lab. Buzzing, flailing, FREAKING OUT. We were safely on the other side of the plastic, but can plastic really hold a vicious, cicada eating KILLER?!

Yes ... yes, it can. But you never know.

Upon further research (oh, we're so scholarly), we found that this wasp is called a "cicada killer." Yeah they EAT cicadas. No big deal. These wasps can grow to over an inch and a half. Want that to sting you? Yup, me neither. That's why I hunt them ...

By the way, ours is named Killer.