(dynamic music)
- I know why you clicked on this video.
And you know that Brave Wilderness almost never clickbaits,
especially when it comes to Coyote Peterson
putting himself in a world of pain for science,
education, and good old fashioned entertainment.
But you're probably also saying to yourselves,
wait a minute, I thought this guy retired
from intentional stings after the executioner wasp.
So let me explain exactly why we're here.
Okay, so the craziest moment of fate
just happened moments ago.
We are on location in Texas,
and we're currently in the process of filming an episode
about alligator gar, big conservation episode
for this fish species.
And I'm standing on this embankment here
that you see out behind me,
and an enormous wasp comes and lands at my feet.
It was a cicada killer,
one of the largest wasp species here in the United States,
and an insect that I have not yet been stung by.
Now there are two reasons I was not stung by it.
One, is I've never seen one before.
And two, according to Justin Schmidt's pain index,
it only ranks as about a two.
He was stung by the western cicada killer.
This is the eastern variety,
and they're the biggest of the five cicadas killers.
Now this wasp is currently going through a very tricky time
in its existence, because earlier in 2020,
this wasp was deemed as quite possibly being
the murder hornet, more scientifically known as
the Japanese or Asian giant hornet.
The Cicada killer is a species that is
naturally found here throughout the United States.
But size-wise, and color-wise, creepiness-wise,
it definitely ranks on the same scale as the giant hornet.
So over the course of the past couple months
these cicada killers have been coming out
from under the ground to hunt for cicadas.
People have been seeing them and they've been thinking,
giant murder hornets are invading the United States.
That is not the case, because like I said,
cicada killers have been here
just as long as we have been here.
What I'm going to do today, to get to the point,
is ultimately be stung by a cicada killer
to prove that this is not an insect
that you need to be afraid of.
I know you're shaking your heads right now saying, Coyote,
wait a minute, are you coming out of sting retirement?
Not technically, I'm not gonna get
stung by a bunch of other bugs.
But, my goal here is to prove
that this is not a giant hornet,
and it is not a creature that you need to be afraid of
if you see it this summer.
Now the crew's behind the scenes right now
getting the macro shots.
And the way that we caught this wasp
is it went down into its little burrow,
I quickly took a water bottle
that we had in the back of the vehicle,
put it over its hole, it flew right in, and we caught it.
So if that's not fate saying it is
time to get stung by the cicada killer
and take it out of the villainous spotlight,
I don't know what is.
We've got this beautiful backdrop here in Texas.
We've set up in the shade.
We've got an awesome frame ready to go.
Cameras are being set.
And if you guys are ready,
I think I am ready to come out of sting retirement,
temporarily, to be stung by the cicada killer.
Okay, here we go.
(ominous music)
Hey, Coyote Pack.
If you can't wait until Saturday
and want to enter the cicada killer sting zone
before anyone else, join memberships right now
to unlock the full episode.
I know you're shaking your heads right now saying, Coyote,
wait a minute, are you coming out of sting retirement?
I'm Coyote Peterson.
And I'm about to be stung by the cicada killer.
Oh my goodness, that stinger's in, here we go.
(animals calling)