Tracker jacker

"Most people can't tolerate more than a few stings. Most die at once. If you live, the hallucinations brought on by the venom have actually drawn people to madness."

- Katniss Everdeen

Tracker jackers are genetically-altered wasps, conceived and created in the labs in the Capitol. They are genetically coded to attack anyone or anything that disturbs their nest. Once a they make a person their target, they will follow him or her far away from their nest, unlike natural vespids. Tracker jackers were used as weapons during the war and planted around the districts of Panem. After the Dark Days, the Capitol destroyed some hives around themselves, but still kept the hives around the districts as a cruel way to show their power over the inhabitants. Tracker jackers are weak to smoke, as it makes them extremely drowsy.

Appearance
Tracker Jackers are much larger than normal wasps. They have solid gold bodies without any stripes, which makes them instantly recognizable. Their hives are large and papery, and do not differentiate from those of normal wasps in any known way.

Effects
Tracker Jacker venom was specifically engineered to target the part of the brain that generates fear, bringing on terrifying hallucinations that can drive a person to madness. The stings can be about the size of a plum. Kaniss got an orange-sized lump almost immediately after being stung. This venom can also kill a person with a minimal number of stings, though some live through the horrible experience.

The area in which one is stung by a tracker jacker is known to swell up to great sizes. As Katniss describes, a sting swells up with putrid green fluid that smells repulsive, although she was subject to a few stings at the time and therefore may not be accurate, because her brain may have been affected by the venom. The best thing to do with a sting is to dig out the stinger first, which will minimize pain and accelerate healing. The chewed-up leaves of a certain plant on them can help draw out the poison.

Hijacking
Tracker jacker venom can also be used to "hijack " memories in a form of torture. A memory is called to the front of the victim's mind, and an injection of tracker jacker venom can transform the memory, allowing the torturers to warp it to become horrifying. However, according to Peeta, whenever the victim reviews the new twisted memory, it has a distinct "shiny" quality, allowing them to judge whether or not it is real. Venom from tracker jackers was used by the Capitol to torture Peeta in Mockingjay to hurt Katniss, and he forgot everything or remembered it wrong. It is also thought that if you get stung by it, you hallucinate and then you feel like getting attacked by what you are scared of most. This happened when Katniss got stung once each on the knee, neck, and cheek. She takes the stings out and starts to hallucinate. Right after she hallucinates, Cato starts coming after her, but Peeta saves her by pushing her away and risking his life as Cato is bent on killing. Then the book mentions that Katniss sees herself falling into a pit of orange bubbles and ants, when it is really a pit of dead leaves. She stops hallucinating two days after.