Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Cow Killer

I remember these orange and black fuzzy things from my early childhood in Macon, Georgia.  We spent a lot of time outside during the summer and often encountered them.  They are about an inch long and look like the biggest, most velvety ant you've ever seen.  If you pick one up, and this is the voice of experience, you will discover that they have a VERY painful sting, perhaps the worst I've ever experienced. 

That's all I knew about them until I went to create this post and searched them out on the internet.  They are variously called Common Eastern Velvet Ants or Red Velvet Ants, but I really like their most common name, Cow Killers, obviously based on their sting.

3 comments:

ShEiLa said...

cool photo... but I don't want to experience the sting so I will take your word for it.

ToOdLeS.

Mouse said...

Red Velvet, Cow Killer...cuddly looking yet potentially vicious. Ah, nature.

Vivian aka Deborah said...

Oh wow....bet you were sweating just taking that shot. Do they really kill cows? Poor cows.