- I'm Coyote Peterson.
This morning, we're gonna answer the question
do ants bites or do they sting?
And I'm about to find out first hand.
(yelling and groaning in pain)
(dramatic music)
The southwestern United States
has a reputation of being rough and rugged.
It's cowboy country,
and in many people's minds,
it is laced with dangerous reptiles
and dream haunting arachnids.
When it comes to Arizona's Sonoran Desert,
a fair share of this lore is true.
There are venomous animals
and some pretty big spiders.
It never becomes any less nerve wracking
to pick up a tarantula,
I promise you that.
But trust me when I say
they are much more afraid of you
than you should ever be of them.
Insects on the other hand,
are another story.
And living in many Arizona backyards
is a fearless creature armed with one of the most
toxic venoms in the world.
And while they are no bigger than the tip of your finger,
they are absolutely fearless
when it comes to attacking an intruder.
OK so, right now I am tucking my pant legs
into my boots because what I am standing in
is the attack zone of the harvester ant.
Now there are many species of ants
that live out here in the Sonoran Desert,
but nothing is more aggressive than the harvester ant.
All ants have the ability to bite,
but what most people don't realize is that many species,
including the harvester ant,
also have the ability to sting,
and boy is it a whooper.
What I'm gonna try to do is see if I can get
harvester ants on my hands
and let them bite and sting me
for 60 seconds.
If you guys want me to be stung by the bullet ant some day,
I think you have to walk before you can run,
so I think the harvester ant is a great test
to see how I would fend against the bullet ant.
All right, you ready?
Now before I go through with this,
let's talk about the toxicity of the harvester ant.
A single sting is said to be almost 20 times as potent
as a honeybee.
Personally, I'm not allergic to any bees,
wasps, or hornets,
still, this is incredibly dangerous,
so I stress never, and I mean never,
attempt what you are about to see in this episode.
I'm basically just gonna put my hands down
right here in front of their burrow,
and let them hop on.
When harvester ants attack,
they use their powerful mandibles to bite
and hold onto their victim.
Ahh!
Yep, getting stung already.
While repetitively stinging and injecting venom
through the stinger at the base of their abdomen.
Oh, that burns.
The venom is laced with an alkaloid poison,
which when released, (yells in pain)
acts as an alarm pheromone
that causes other ants in the area to attack.
(yelling in pain)
They're all over my hands now, look at that!
This was very obvious,
as after the first sting was inflicted,
it seemed as if the entire colony
was called to the front lines.
Oh boy.
(yelling in pain)
60 seconds seemed like a lifetime.
Ahh!
As tiny stingers jabbed me over and over.
I could feel them getting into my clothes,
up my back, and onto my neck.
Ow, there's one on my neck.
Murray, get the one off my neck.
And eventually the pain became too much.
- [Voiceover] All right, I think that's 60 seconds.
(yelling in pain)
I was done.
The ants had won.
Ahhh!
I gotta take my shirt off.
So why in the world did I do this?
Well, many of you out there watching
have requested that I be stung by a bullet ant,
which can inflict a single sting
that is considered to be one of the most painful stings
in the animal kingdom.
Ow, there's still one in my pants.
Ahh!
This is truly the meaning of ants in your pants.
The producers and I wanted to see
how my body would react to several stings
from the harvester ant.
When it was all said and done,
the crew and I counted 63 sting zones.
And the effects of the venom lasted for nearly a week,
which included searing pain during the first couple hours
followed by swelling, tenderness,
and periodic itching.
My arms, my hands, the back of my head
are absolutely on fire right now.
Wow.
The harvester art is one formidable little foe,
I can tell you that much.
If I could sustain this, maybe, just maybe,
the bullet ant challenge isn't too far off.
- [Voiceover] We gotta get a shot, man.
Come on over.
(Coyote groans in pain)
I know it hurts.
- I think a half hour from now, if I'm OK,
there's a good chance that I'm gonna be able
to get up close, possibly stung, by the bullet ant.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild,
stay away from harvester ants.
I'll see you on the next adventure.
I'm sure your're shaking your head right now, thinking,
"Coyote, you are absolutely crazy."
And maybe I am, but I hope that we have
all learned something from this little experiment.
One, that ants both bite and sting.
And two, never, I mean never,
tangle with a colony of harvester ants.
If you thought getting stung by harvester ants was crazy,
check out the time I was chewed by the solpugid.
And don't forget to subscribe to join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
Oh my gosh, his little mandibles are razor sharp.
(moaning in pain)
Ow.