With insects, this man knows wasps going on

Dr Raghavendra Gadagkar, one of the world’s leading animal behaviour scientists, has spent the last 40 years studying the Ropalidia marginata, a type of wasp commonly found around human habitation. He believes the colonies could offer clues on how humans can manage conflict and competition better.

Would you rather know a lot about one thing or a little about many things? While you think about that, meet Dr Raghavendra Gadagkar, 67, one of the world’s leading animal behaviour scientists. He’s spent all of his 40-year career learning a lot about one little thing. Gadagkar is curious about the Ropalidia marginata, a type of paper wasp commonly found in and around human habitations, nesting on trees and shrubs, rocks, crevices in walls, on window sills, etc. And he’s not done studying them.

Since every wasp, including the queen, in the Ropalidia marginata colony is born identical, Dr Raghavendra Gadagkar and his team of research students colour code each individual. (Souvik Mandal)

Gadagkar is the DST Year of Science Chair Professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru. Through his decades of research, assisted year upon year by droves of students who come to IISc , he’s found out some fascinating things about conflict and co-operation in the colonies of these ferocious-looking creatures.

“Unlike in ants and bees, in the wasps that I study, the queen is not born. Every individual is born equal and anyone from the colony has the potential to become queen,” says Gadagkar. The reigning queen wasp secretes pheromones, which she spreads all over the colony, rendering every other member sterile and maintaining her place as the designated producer of offspring.

“We cannot imitate nature blindly because you will find all kinds of systems in nature,” Dr Raghavendra Gadagkar says, referring to dynamics that cover democracy, autocracy, monogamy, polygamy, parental care and parental neglect. “We should decide what we want to do based on our ethics, and then let the animals teach us how do it.”

Gadagkar first noticed the R. marginata at his hostel when he was studying for his bachelor’s degree in zoology at Central College, Bengaluru. “As a novice, I didn’t know which species they were,” he says. “My zoology professors didn’t know either. They weren’t used to examining live animals.” He not only identified them but kept an eye on them right through earning his PhD in molecular biology from IISc in 1979. Then, he switched to studying animal behaviour – no prizes for guessing which one.

The wasps turned out to be a convenient subject of study – they are abundantly found (“Right now there is a colony in my office balcony,” he said during the interview), and their small colonies, with 30 to 40 individuals commonly occurring, were easy to track. And they didn’t seem to mind their nests being moved to the lab, a meshed wooden crate from which they can leave and return as they please.

Some aspects of the job, however, sting quite literally. Each wasp is colour coded by hand using a toothpick, and Gadagkar and his students have learnt some painful lessons. He doesn’t mind. “We are conducting cutting-edge research at a trifling cost,” he says.

He believes his life’s work will one day be deemed important. There are lessons in conservation, of course, but animal behaviour offers lots of lessons for humans too. “We cannot imitate nature blindly because you will find all kinds of systems in nature,” he says referring to dynamics that cover democracy, autocracy, monogamy, polygamy, parental care and parental neglect. “We should decide what we want to do based on our ethics, and then let the animals teach us how do it.”