look, don't touch

Ah, the puss caterpillar. While it may look soft and cuddly, your reaction to its stinging hair is nothing to be trifled with. Indeed, some people react so badly they need to be hospitalized. Luckily, the ones here seem to only make you itch and burn for 3-30 hours (benadryl helps). Don't mess with fuzzy caterpillars. We've renamed these "stingy bears"

I also got attacked by ground-nesting wasps today. Unknowingly stepping onto their nest, they quickly explained that I should vacate the area. And by "explain" I mean "sting me twice in the neck and once on the cheek and then chase me away". My instincts failed me this time: my flight-or-fight response chose fight. And I lost. To my good fortune, my coworker told me to run away; had she not, I probably would've received several more stings before realizing swatting blindly was a losing proposition.

Kaybee was right: the insects are fighting back against my desire to photograph them; they've organized and are coming after me. Uh oh.

Edit: my one-year ago is a photo of a wasp. :(