You're enjoying a picnic,
and you take a swig of your drink.
Ah. What's that in your mouth?
It's a hornet.
And you accidentally swallowed it.
This is What If.
There are plenty of
bugs and insects that can
bite or sting us.
And hornets might be the one that
you fear the most.
Did you know that from the year
2000 to 2017,
in the United States,
So, how likely is it that you could
die from a hornet's sting?
You might be asking,
what's the difference between a hornet
and a wasp?
Actually, there's a huge obvious difference.
It's their size.
If you've ever seen a hornet,
they're much bigger than your
common wasp.
although the average is about
3.2 cm (1 1/4 in).
And hornets are wider than wasps.
Imagine swallowing that.
Hornets are actually part of the wasp family.
They're a specific type of wasp.
But since hornets are
bigger than common wasps,
does that make a hornet's venom
more painful?
Well, they might deliver more venom.
But, research has shown that
the composition of the venom
is slightly different from wasps and bees.
How painful venom is
depends on whether there's
acetylcholine in it.
And, hornet venom contains acetylcholine.
This is why hornet stings tend to hurt more.
They also contain serotonin,
which acts as an irritant,
making the pain even worse.
So turn the pain dial up to 11.
Hornets are less aggressive than wasps.
But if a hornet were in your mouth,
it would most likely sting you in self-defense.
If you're allergic to hornet stings,
what could happen to you?
Well, it's not good news.
If you are stung in your mouth or throat,
there's a chance that
the area surrounding the sting
would swell up.
And if it blocks your airway,
it could kill you.
If you have a severe allergic reaction,
you could go into anaphylactic shock.
You could lose consciousness,
and your heart could stop beating.
But what if,
by all the wings of fortune,
the hornet makes it to your stomach, alive.
Could it still sting you in there?
Our stomachs are full of acid and enzymes
to break down the food we eat.
And the acid is so strong that it
could dissolve most of the
other organs in our bodies.
So the hornet would probably have a
pretty tough time staying alive in there.
But if it did survive in the stomach acid,
even if it stung you,
your stomach lining is so thick and durable
that the sting might not affect you.
Who knew your stomach was so tough?
Okay, so what are the chances
of this happening?
Well, it's quite unlikely that you'd
swallow a hornet,
either accidentally or on purpose.
You might end up biting and
chewing the hornet before you swallowed it.
But would you come out of that
sting-free?
Well, the hornet would probably be terrified.
And since it doesn't lose its stinger,
you could be stung many times.
Hornets are around in the summer.
So when you're outside,
you might want to check your glass
or your can of soda,
before you drink from it.
And if you think it would be awful
if you swallowed a hornet,
imagine being swallowed by a hippo.
What would that feel like?
Well, that's a story for another What If.