- I'm Coyote Peterson.
Now you've seen me stung by harvester ants,
fire ants, and scorpions.
But today, I'm moving a rung up
on the insect sting pain index
and I'm going to be stung by the cow killer.
I have a feeling that this one is going to hurt.
Oh boy.
(dramatic music)
(yelling)
(dramatic music)
There's no question about it,
the Wild West is rough and rugged.
And whether you're talking about the rocky terrain
laced with spine-covered plants,
or its animals, most of which
are armed with fags and stingers,
Arizona Sonoran Desert is an adventure-lover's playground.
Sure, we all have our fears of being bitten
by a rattlesnake when venturing off trail,
or in my case, having a giant desert centipede
run up my pant leg.
But in actuality the good news
is that each and every one of these creatures
does its best to avoid human interaction.
However, sometimes you have an accidental run-in,
and when you do, a bite or sting can be incredibly painful.
Yeah, he got me, he bit me?
- [Mark] Are you sure?
- [Coyote] Yeah, he definitely bit me.
When it comes to my line of work
the goal is to have an interaction
so that I can show you the effects of these encounters.
This way we can all learn why it's important
to be in tune with our surroundings and why it's always best
to admire animals from a safe distance.
Velvet ant, velvet ant!
- [Mark] Got one?
- Yeah, yeah, he's right there
on the other side of that log.
I get my pack off.
Yes!
Hold on, no, he's underneath the log.
I just started to tip it, I saw he ran back,
hold on a second.
- [Mark] I saw him.
- [Coyote] Did you see it?
- [Mark] He ducked -- again.
(dramatic music)
- [Coyote] There it is, there it is.
- [Mark] Get 'im, get 'im, don't lose 'im.
- Ah!
Yes, yes, look at that!
- [Mark] Whoo!
(laughing)
- Oh, he almost got into the crevice of that log.
Wow, that is a good sized one too.
Ah, but we got our velvet ant, there it is.
Okay, cool, well tomorrow morning
I'm gonna get stung by that little ornery bugger.
Cool.
The velvet ant, which is actually a species
of ground wasp and not an ant at all,
claims a famous nickname, the cow killer.
Ranked on the insect sting pain index as being
the fourth most painful sting in the insect kingdom.
Rumor has it that the pain is so intense it can kill a cow.
You may be looking at this thinking to yourself,
"Coyote, are you gonna get stung?"
Yeah, I am, I'm gonna get stung by this today.
Now the insect sting pain index says
that the intense pain will last for about 30 minutes,
and the reason that I'm doing it is
to work my way up to the bullet ant.
You wanna see me stung by the bullet?
Kinda feel like I have to get stung
by everything else leading up to that.
I am not looking forward to 30 minutes
of pain that's gonna come from this insect.
I know, right?
Here we go again.
Coyote is about to enter the strike zone.
But this one's a little different.
When it comes to alligator bites, crab pinches,
or blood-sucking leaches, I'm fine with that.
When it comes to stingers and venom,
that's where even I get nervous.
Now, the females do not have wings,
the males do have wings,
but what's interesting is that
the males do not have stingers.
Guess who does have a stinger.
That's right, the females, and that who we have here today.
Now one of the most impressive things about this insect
is the size of its stinger.
In fact, it's about as long
as the entire length of the abdomen.
What I wanna do now is use these little entomology forceps
to pick the velvet ant up and show you guys
just how big that stinger is.
You ready for this?
- [Mark] Yeah, are they delicate?
- They are not.
The velvet ant actually has
a very, very durable exoskeleton,
one of the toughest exoskeletons in the insect kingdom
so me picking her up with the forceps
is not going to cause her any sort of pain or damage.
Come 'ere.
Oh.
- [Mark] Gettin' away, gettin' away.
- [Coyote] I got it, I got it.
- [Mark] Got it?
- [Coyote] Got it.
- [Mark] Got it, awesome.
- Now they can be found in the grass
so if you're out there walking around barefoot
and you step on one of these you're not gonna squish it.
What's gonna happen is it's gonna spin around,
and then it's gonna tuck its abdomen under,
and boom, you're gonna get nailed with that giant stinger.
Well, I think at this juncture
it is time to for me to actually take a sting.
Are you guys getting nervous?
I'll tell ya what, I sure was.
Now they say that this sting
is painful enough to kill a cow,
however there are no reported cases of cows,
or humans for that matter,
ever dying from a velvet ant sting.
This makes me feel a bit better
but you never know how your body will react to venom
so we always have an Epinephrine Pen on location,
just in case I have an allergic reaction to the sting.
Alright, Mark signaling me that it is time, here we go.
I'm about to be stung by the velvet ant, here we go.
- [Mark] Alright, Coyote, well it's about that time.
- Yeah.
- [Mark] How are we gonna pull this off?
I see we have, camera-wise, we have a GoPro,
small camera right next to me.
Oh hey, there's Chance.
Chance over there.
What's the game plan for this sting?
What's the idea?
- Well, this is gonna go down one of two ways.
What I'm gonna try first is to actually
take this little glass, flip it upside down,
get the ant to this end,
and then place it down on top of my arm.
This will isolate the ant on my skin
and I'm hoping that, as it tries to get away,
it's just going to sting me.
Now, if that doesn't work,
I also have my pair of entomology forceps
and I'm actually going to pick up, hold the ant,
place it on my arm, and let it sting me.
One way or another, I am definitely
going to be stung by the velvet ant.
Here we go, okay.
Now the first thing I'm gonna do is
get the ant up into that part of the glass,
and then I'm going to spin this over on my forearm,
and with any luck the ant is going to sting me.
Here we go, ready?
- [Mark] Let's do it, here comes the--
- I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the sting zone
with the velvet ant.
One,
two,
here we go, three.
Oh boy.
Oh, my heart's racing right now.
Oh boy, I can its abdomen kinda pumpin'.
My heart is going now.
- [Mark] Any second it could happen.
- Yeah, any second it could sting me.
(heavy breathing)
Ooh, ooh, ohh, ow, ow, ow, ow,
ow, it's biting at my skin!
It's biting at the edge of the container trying to get out.
And that stinger's gonna be like
a little hypodermic needle going into my skin.
(heavy breathing)
This is intense.
The glass was actually starting to get
a little foggy from the heat of my skin
so at this point I think we are going to move to plan B,
which is holding the velvet ant with the entomology forceps.
I don't think it's going to sting me at this point,
it's been in there for about two minutes
and so far no sting, it's just trying to get out.
So I'm gonna flip my arm upside down
and get the ant back under control.
Okay, here we go, ready?
- [Mark] Okay.
- One, two, three.
Okay.
- [Mark] Whoo.
- Ahhh.
- [Mark] How do you feel?
- Ahh, extremely nervous and my heart is racing.
I actually think I do have to take a second
just to get my heart rate to calm back down.
Okay, cutting GoPro.
Okay, alright, the only way to actually
move forward with this is for me
to hold the ant with the entomology forceps
up against my skin and let it sting me.
- [Mark] It seems this is gonna do it, isn't it?
- Yeah.
Hold on, I need a second.
My heart's like, oh, getting dizzy, yeah, getting dizzy.
In the world of entomology when it comes
to milking the venom of insects and arachnids,
holding them with forceps
is a guaranteed way to induce a sting.
So I think we all know what's going to happen next.
This is crazy, guys, this is crazy.
My nerves are going this much for the velvet ant,
I can't imagine what the tarantula hawk
and the bullet ant are gonna be like.
- [Mark] I can't believe you're about to do this,
that stinger is enormous.
- Yeah, yeah, okay, you can do this, you can do this, okay.
- [Mark] So that stinger is gonna go
all the way under your skin?
- Yeah, it's gonna go right into my skin.
- [Mark] Yeah, I'm ready.
(dramatic music)
Oh boy.
(dramatic music)
Alright, here we go.
- You ready?
Alright, let's do this again
one more time for good measure.
I'm Coyote Peterson and I'm about to enter the sting zone
with the cow killer.
Are you ready?
- [Mark] Are you ready?
- No, I'm never ready.
One,
two,
three.
You good?
Get your shot, I'm gonna place it right down on my arm.
- [Mark] Got it.
- Here we go,
with my arm shakin'.
And, go.
(dramatic music)
Ow!
(grunting)
Okay, let me get back here.
- [Mark] You alright?
What're you feelin'?
- Oh wow, oh wow, okay.
(heavy breathing)
Give me a second.
Oh my gosh!
- [Mark] You alright?
- Oh yeah.
- [Mark] What are you feeling, what does it feel like?
- Give me a second, give me a second.
(heavy breathing)
Oh my gosh, guys, this is super bad.
Move this out of the way.
(yelling)
(heavy breathing)
Hold on, I gotta try to control my heart rate.
Try to get a tight shot of it
right there where the stinger went it,
you need to see there's blood.
Okay, try to get a shot 'cause I can get up
and like walk around for a second.
Right there.
- [Mark] Right there is where it stung you?
- Right where it stung me.
I could feel it, it was like
you could feel it go all the way under the skin,
all the way in.
I could feel it insert into my arm.
(grunting)
- [Mark] You gonna be alright?
- Okay, now they say that the sting of the velvet ant
will last for about 30 minutes
and I can tell you guys right now
this is the worst sting I've ever taken,
there's no question about it.
It's worse than a harvester ant,
it is worse than a fire ant.
It feels like I'm getting stung over and over again.
You could see the welt starting to form on my arm.
- [Mark] Oh man, yeah, there's a welt, big time.
Describe the pain, is it like a pulsating pain,
a stabbing pain?
- The pain, it's radiating, it is radiating.
It feels like, you know if you get
a charlie horse in your muscle and it like seizes up,
and then it's like--
Oh, that is powerful.
I can see why they call 'em cow killers.
Oh, that is some intense pain right there.
How long has it been, about?
- [Mark] About seven minutes.
- Seven minutes?
Now they say the pain from this lasts for about 30,
I have about 23 minutes to go, guys, 23 minutes to go.
(yelling)
Now aside from working my way up to the bullet ant,
the reason I was willing to take a sting from this insect
was so that we could all see the effects of the venom.
25 minutes has gone by, my arm is still on fire,
and what's crazy is that look at all the red blotching
that's formed around the sting.
There's the stinger insertion point right there
and it is swollen, and it is very tender,
and you could see how red the entire radius is of the sting.
And I'm sweating.
My goal was to do the best I could
to describe the pain I was feeling.
And it still hurts, it definitely still hurts,
but not as bad as the initial impact of the stinger.
But what's interesting is that
all around the sting is tingling
like these little, tiny pin cushion needles going--
And as you can see there's all these little red dots forming
and I'm assuming that is where
the venom is spreading into my arm.
Oh wow, well I would say that this
was definitely one very intense sting.
The cow killer has earned its reputation as being
one of the most powerful stings in the insect kingdom.
(yelling and grunting)
And while it may be ranked as a four
on the insect sting pain index,
for me at this point, it's definitely number one.
I'd say I'm one step closer
to being stung by the bullet ant, but first,
I'm gonna have to go up against the tarantula hawk.
I have a feeling that that one is going to be bad.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Whoo, let's get out of the desert.
Velvet ants are nomadic ground dwellers
that feed primarily on nectar
so there's absolutely no reason you should ever fear them.
If you live or are hiking in velvet ant territory
you'll want to avoid a possible sting.
Keep your boots on your feet and you'll be just fine.
If you missed the painfully entertaining conclusion
to my climb up the insect sting pain index
make sure to go back and watch,
Stung by an Executioner Wasp.
And don't forget, subscribe and click the notification bell
so you can join me and the crew on our next wild adventure.
(coyote howling)