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Comment by devindotcom | Hacker News Reader

This is nasty but these wasps and the fig trees that are their home are the subject of one of the best nature documentaries I've ever seen, The Queen of Trees:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy86ak2fQJM

If you can locate a good HD copy it's worth waiting and watching that. Ian Holm narrates the stories of a bunch of different animals, from fig wasps to other bugs and larger creatures like bats, monkeys and even humans that rely on the tree. It has some of the most horrifying but also incredible imagery I've seen in a nature show and some real groaner lines from Holm to boot. My friends and I watch it every year or two and it never fails to amaze me.

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Thanks for the recommendation. I've found a free HD version here:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68r4b5

Thanks so much for posting this. We just watched it with great pleasure.

Looks like Apple has it for $12.99: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-queen-of-trees/umc.cmc.2i7...

Was going to suggest this - incredible documentary but be warned it can get quite gruesome.

Try telling your friends you had nightmares about fig wasps...

Thanks for the warning. I had put it in my "watch with kids" bookmark folder.

Gruesome in what way? Like insect on insect violence zoomed in kinda way?

The ending was superb.

"She will be alone in the garden, for the gate is closing. Others arrive too late."

I've only found one wasp in my figs. I wonder how many eggs were in the fig when I ate it.

The fig wasp is tiny, like a millimeter. Actually the absolute majority of all wasps are - we think of a sizeable hornet when we hear "wasp" but those are the mythical giants of that world.

Unless you go really looking for it, you wouldn't even see the fig wasp. If there was a visible wasp it's likely something that was simply feeding on it.

The wasp was definitely of the normal wasp style like the supposed beetle predator in the article.

Fig wasp cannot lay eggs in the female figs (those that we eat). They reproduce only in the male figs (caprifigs). But they cannot differentiate them so they enter the female figs, pollinating while entering. After they enter they hardly can escape, as their wings are lost when trying to enter the tiny hole.

The wasp was definitely of the normal wasp style like the supposed beetle predator in the article.

ed2k link: https://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=The_queen_of_trees

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