(dramatic music) - I'm Coyote Peterson
and I'm about to enter the nettle zone
with the gympie-gympie.
(Coyote grunting)
Look at all the bumps forming on my arm.
Oh my gosh.
Man, that is nasty looking.
(bear growling)
(dramatic music)
The Cape York Peninsula is considered
one of Australia's final frontiers.
It's a wilderness paradise,
and while we love filming its unique species,
today we're actually looking for its most notorious plant.
Known as the gympie-gympie,
it supposedly has the world's most painful plant sting.
Today, I'm meeting up with my good friend Ryan.
He says he's got gympie-gympies on his land
and he knows that because he's been stung by it before.
My goal is gonna be to not only find this plant,
but clip a leaf, and ultimately place it on my forearm
to determine just how painful this sting really is.
(tires rattling)
Kevin is our official gympie-gympie scouting dog.
He's got a nose for danger, this one.
- This is it.
- That's it. - That's where we are.
- Oh, way back there.
Kevin, what do you think about gympie-gympie leaves?
Is this something that a dog
would ever want to mess with?
Not so much?
(Kevin panting)
Now, Ryan, you've been stung by the gympie-gympie before.
Tell us a little bit about your experience.
- Oh, indeed, I just had it brush my fingers
as I was swinging a machete
and pain stayed with me for about three months.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- So I may be in for some serious pain today
given what the gympie-gympie is going to do to me.
Now, what I wanna do is extract the right size leaf.
You can see some of these leaves are massive,
I mean, bigger than a human head.
So I could see how if you had an accident out there
clearing bush trails, or if you slipped and fell
into one of these plants, it's gonna be endgame for you.
But for me, I'm looking to get a leaf
that's just the right size to fit on my forearm.
It seems like I'll have no trouble
picking the leaf of my choice.
So I got a couple things I'm going to use.
I'm gonna be wearing sunglasses
and wearing protective gloves.
I also have with me a couple of plastic bags
and we'll be in good shape.
Are you gonna follow in with me just a short ways
or are you gonna film from here?
- [Trent] I'm gonna film from here.
- Okay. (laughing)
Probably smart, right?
- [Trent] I'm wearing shorts as well.
- Yeah, okay, I'm actually gonna put the bandana
over my face too just so that nothing breathes into my nose.
The bandana, the glasses, the hat, the gloves.
Hopefully, this will protect me.
I don't wanna get nettled before the right timing.
(branches snapping)
Okay, I'm right underneath the tree now.
I got a great leaf right there.
There it is, that's the gympie-gympie leaf right there.
All right, let's get outta the underbrush here.
It's time to get this experiment underway.
Whew. (laughing)
Sample number one, secured.
It is a very unassuming looking leaf, I have to admit.
On the underside, you can see
all those veins that run through.
And what you can't see with the naked eye
are these very small nettles, much smaller than the nettles
of the giant stinging tree leaf.
You got those jagged edges around the outer rim,
and if you hold it up like this,
it's almost heart shaped.
But there's no love that comes from this leaf, only pain.
Now, I've read many stories about the gympie-gympie
in preparation for this episode.
Honestly, this is the most fabled plant, I think,
on the face of the planet.
There are stories that date back all the way
to the mid 1800s of early explorers running into this plant,
the pain being so bad that they wanted to cut off
their body part that was inflicted by those nettles.
I even read a couple of cases where people's horses
ran into the nettles and the horses ended up dying
within a matter of hours.
And what I wanna do next is give you guys an up close look
at what are called the trichomes.
That's what's actually harboring that neurotoxic venom.
When you really break it down,
those trichomes are little hypodermic needles,
almost like snake fangs.
And the second they touch my skin and the tip breaks off,
that venom is going to slowly be working its way
into my system.
Now, for context and for safety,
we do have a full first aid kit with us.
We also have an epinephrine pen.
There have been multiple cases of people being nettled
by this plant who've gone into cardiac arrests
so we want to be extra careful.
I don't think it's gonna be that bad for me,
but you never know.
Certainly in Australia,
this is biological landmine number 101
and there is an indigenous people's remedy
for how to remove those nettles
if you find yourself in worst case scenario.
I'm gonna show you how to do that, but first,
we actually have to get the nettles into my skin.
Oh, I can feel myself really wanting to drag this one out.
I'm told this is going to be
one of the most painful experiences I've ever been through.
Bullet ant, execution wasp, giant hornet,
hand in a box full of angry yellow jackets.
If this surpasses the yellow jackets,
it's about to be the worst pain day
I have ever gone through.
And it's amazing that this is quite possibly
going to come from a leaf.
We think of it being animals on our planet
that are the things that are gonna be
the most dangerous biological landmines.
You never think about it actually being
something like a plant.
Now, to induce the nettling,
all I'm going to do is basically brush the leaf
up against my skin.
Think about it, if you're out there
exploring in the wilderness and you brush into one of these,
you're gonna feel it, so I don't need to go over the top.
Over the top would be slapping it up against my face,
rubbing it all over my body.
Now I can tell you this much, if this is gonna put me
in pain for several hours, if not possibly weeks,
I think I'm just going to take a test drive
with the gympie-gympie.
From what everybody tells me, it's gonna be one wild ride.
I'm gonna move this off the table, take off this glove.
(exhaling) My poor forearm.
It's taken a lot of beatings on this trip to Australia
and you may see a red dot
in the center of my forearm right now.
That's actually still a sting left over
from the bulldog ant, so we're just gonna add
a little poison on top of the pain as it is.
(exhaling) Okay, here we go, I'm Coyote Peterson
and I'm about to enter the nettle zone
with the gympie-gympie.
One, two, three.
Ah, okay, oh, geez.
Holy cow, that's very bad very quick.
Oh my God, very bad very quick.
Ooh. (laughing)
Oh wow, okay, so, oh yeah.
Holy mackerel, so what I did, oh geez.
Yeah, wow, okay, it's very, very bad.
I rolled the leaf like this 'cause at first,
I was like, oh, I'm really not feeling anything.
It takes those trichomes just the slightest opportunity
of digging into your skin.
This is like taking the volume in your car stereo
and cranking it to 100.
It only goes to 10, right now, it's on its way to 100.
Holy cow, (grunting).
Yup, this is worse than the giant stinging tree,
that's for sure.
Now, I'm not gonna put this on par by any means
with a hand in a box of yellow jackets, not yet.
We're not there yet,
but I can definitely feel that it is building.
Holy cow, all right, you can see where the redness
is starting to set in there.
(Coyote grunting)
I'm just trying to sit here, I really want to get up.
I really wanna get up and move around,
the sweat's getting in my eyes now.
Ah, gotta get this glove off.
(grunting) Okay, lemme get some composure here.
Holy cow, holy cow.
So on fire and being electrocuted at the same point
is exactly what this feels like.
I've only been electrocuted once.
That's when I accidentally got my finger
in between those two prongs in an electrical socket.
And boy, does that send a jolt up your body.
But if I'm gonna compare this to an insect sting,
I would say that we are definitely at bullet ant level
at this point, and it is continuing to build.
Now, when you think about it building and getting worse,
I'm about a minute and a half in
and if it's only gonna get worse
in the next 20 to 30 minutes,
I'm really a little bit nervous
as to where that's gonna possibly go
and I might've overdone it.
Maybe I should've just touched it to my arm
and not rolled it.
Oh, man, this was a bad idea.
Oh my (laughing).
Look at all the bumps forming on my arm.
Can you see that with that camera?
All through there, look at that.
Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump.
I'm just gonna go ahead and count this
because those are the trichomes that penetrated the surface.
I'm seeing one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25,
26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32.
Probably close to 50. (grunting)
Hot seat right now, ladies and gentlemen.
Geez, it's really getting bad.
Yeah, oh, oh my gosh.
Oh, ah, holy cow.
Can you see that on your camera, Mario?
- [Mario] Yeah, if you keep it like that.
- Dude, that is ridiculous.
Oh, God, don't puke on us.
Don't puke on us.
Oh, my stomach's getting a little queasy.
I can understand just from a few minutes in with the pain
why some people have called this the suicide plant.
I imagine this being on my face, my neck, my mouth.
If you had fallen face first into one of these plants
and you were going through this kind of agony everywhere,
this is bad, this is bad.
This is another one of those, oh, play stupid games,
win stupid prizes.
I know you guys are writing in the comment section like,
"Coyote, what did you think you were getting yourself into?"
Well, I knew what I was getting myself into.
Had to determine exactly how bad it was gonna be.
Without question, this is way worse
than the giant stinging tree.
Ah, shimmities, wow.
Holy heat zone, man.
This is like serious searing fire right now.
Holy cow, no, something's going on here.
I can actually feel, it feels like
it's crawling into my skin.
So similar to a jellyfish,
the pneumatophores on the jellyfish,
and the way once they penetrate your upper epidermis layer
and start to get in there, they're working their way in.
And those trichomes are slowly releasing
small bursts of neurotoxic venom.
So every time they set off, almost like a landmine,
I'm feeling that jolt of burning electricity
going up and down my arm.
Got that shot yet?
- [Mario] That's a good angle right there.
- Yeah, I bet it is. - Hold steady.
- [Trent] Well, it's about to start pouring down rain.
- It's gonna rain? - Yeah.
- We're trying to get this scene all roped in
before the storm comes in.
Now, it's important to note
that we're gonna have to gauge out the pacing of this
over the course of the next 20 to 30 minutes.
So we've got rain coming in.
The next piece is, (sputtering) the next piece of the scene
may be up under an overhang.
But the good news is we've got the trichomes in,
the venom's taking effect.
Ah, and I'm gonna try to use the local remedy
for removing some of those nettles,
but I'm gonna let it set in so I can feel
the full effect of the venom before we do that.
All right, I'm getting up, I gotta move.
Holy crap, ah, woo!
- Well, he was right about play stupid games,
win stupid prizes.
He wanted to take on this journey
and we have been here to capture it.
- (grunting) Ah, torrential downpour.
(laughing) Nothing like filming, ah!
A nettles episode in the middle of an oncoming storm.
Oh, oh, my remedy, my remedy.
Ah, oh, the water definitely makes it worse.
(Coyote groaning)
Geez, man, that is nasty looking.
My whole left side is like, ah, so uncomfortable
all the way up my arm into my shoulder
and into my chest and my lymph nodes.
(Coyote groaning)
Ugh, that is the face of a man
who is exemplifying true regret.
My arm is on fire right now, and it's not just my arm,
it's my lymph nodes underneath my armpit and in my groin.
It's so uncomfortable.
That's my body's lymphatic system basically saying
we've got invaders in the body, we gotta get rid of them.
Now, there is a remedy that indigenous people,
that aboriginal people will use to help remove the nettles
from any stinging plant in Australia.
I'm going to try this remedy.
I'm looking for anything right now
that could possibly provide me relief.
I am 30 minutes in.
Mentally, I am zapped.
My lymph nodes are screaming in pain, my arm is on fire.
It might as well have gotten burnt in a furnace.
So let's try to do this.
If you are out in the wild and you find
that you have run into a gympie-gympie
or you've run into a giant stinging tree,
all you need is a small container.
You could use a water bottle, you could use anything,
and a little bit of dirt.
You want some dirt that's gonna be thick
and that's ultimately going to turn into a thick mud
that you can cake onto the skin.
You want it to be the consistency
of a very hearty milkshake.
Now, as that dirt begins to dry, as the mud dries,
it is going to suck moisture and grip on to the nettles
and then you should be able to peel or rub that off
and hopefully take the majority of the nettles with you.
So if you're out there in the wild,
finding anything with a flat, straight edge,
I found this shell earlier.
This will work perfectly to scrape the mud at an angle.
You don't want to dig in.
You want to go at an angle against the mud, the skin,
and hopefully, that will help to push out
some of the nettles.
So here we go.
Look at that, just bulldozing it away.
(groaning) It's still very, very sensitive.
Oh, it does feel like it may be getting
some of those nettles out though.
Oh, man, my arm hurts so bad.
The whole arm is almost numb at this point.
And as the mud was drying, I could actually feel
that it was tightening down on the skin
which did provide, strangely enough, a little bit of relief.
And the good thing about the mud
is that it's also going to suck out a little bit
of that toxin from the upper level of the skin.
All right, now everything that I've read
has said that water immediately turns to searing pain.
That's because the nerve endings that are being affected
by the neurotoxin are still screaming
and cold or heat will just increase that intensity.
But I'm gonna go for it, here we go.
(wincing) Yep, oh wow, geez.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, I wanna get that off,
wanna get that off.
Ah, yeah, ah, the water burns like crazy!
Ah, (exhaling), ooh.
Okay, there are definitely probably still trichomes in there
if it's hurting that bad.
Ah, ah.
Okay, get off of there, water.
Woo, man.
Immediate water contact equals searing pain.
But now that I've squeegeed off some of that water,
I am feeling a bit of relief.
Now, as a secondary effort, if you find yourself
out in the wild, and this is your immediate solution,
getting to a store to use something like wax strips
is going to be your best remedy in a nettling,
whether that is from the giant stinging leaf
or from gympie-gympie.
We know because I used wax strips
with the giant stinging leaf.
Now, I do have some wax strips with me
that I will eventually try
if the pain here doesn't begin to subside.
Oh, geez!
Oh, that's so painful.
It is insane how many of those were still in my skin.
And I can tell the difference between hairs and trichomes
because my hair is dark colored and the trichomes are clear.
And under a macro lens, they look like
little tiny snake fangs that inject
a lot of neurotoxic venom.
(Coyote sighing)
It has now been 24 hours since I took on the sting
of the gympie-gympie and it's fair to say,
last night I had the second worst sleep experience
in my life.
Next to sticking my hand into a box of angry yellow jackets,
the gympie-gympie put me in some serious pain.
Today, I'm doing all right.
I used another wax strip this morning.
Still feeling electrical shock impulses
running up and down my forearm.
And I would say that I can officially rank the gympie-gympie
as being the number one most painful plant sting
in the world.
Is there a plant sting that's ever gonna outdo it?
I guess we'll have to wait and find out.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
It has been nearly four months
since my wild ride with Australia's notorious suicide plant.
And when it comes to long-term effects,
all of the warnings are legit.
My forearm experiences random unprovoked flareups
of itchiness, and if I put anything refrigerator level cold
to my skin in the nettled area,
it feels like I'm being shocked with icy lightning bolts.
Fun times.
But this is why I do what I do so that we can all see
how powerful nature is and why you want to do your best
to respect it from a safe distance.
(dramatic music)
(bear growling)