(dramatic music)
- I'm Coyote Peterson.
And I'm about to be bitten by the giant,
desert, centipede. (dramatic music)
Here we go.
(Coyote screaming)
Oh my gosh, it's so much worse than a bullet ant sting.
(Coyote moaning)
(dramatic music)
It's a fair statement to say that I'm no stranger to pain
as over the past two years,
I have arguably taken more intentional bites,
chomps, pinchers and stings, (Coyote screaming)
than any other human being. (Coyote screaming)
Some people say that I am absolutely crazy.
While others have labeled me as admirably fearless. (yells)
However (yells), I describe myself as a passionate educator
whose endured these wild experiments
so we can all learn about animals
and ultimately take away from my discomfort (yells),
a new found respect for these
often times misunderstood creatures.
So while I might be a little crazy,
I certainly am not completely fearless.
And have made it very clear that there are only two
creatures on this planet that make my skin crawl.
The first is infamously known as the toe biter.
Scientifically, this is alien looking creature
is addressed as the Giant Water Bug.
And its bite which is inflicted with a needle like rostrum
is unbelievably painful. (screams)
Since we first featured one of these insects
several years ago, the Coyote Pack has been requesting
both a bite and aftermath episode.
So I face my fears, safely caught one of these giants
and then in poetic fashion,
let it latch on and bite my toe. (screams)
It was a pain that I will never forget.
Fear that I probably conquered
in the name of science and education.
My second fear needs no elaborate introduction.
You already know what it is.
And yes, I will be bitten by the giant desert centipede.
(dramatic music)
(Coyote screams and sighs)
These voracious predators can occasionally be encountered
when exploring the deserts of the southwest.
And whether you stumble upon one under the light of day,
as it disappears into a burrow
or you happen to bear witness to one as it hunts
under the darkness of night.
The reaction my most is usually the same.
Screaming, running in the opposite direction,
and then mentally navigating a thick cloud of disbelief
for what your eyes had just seen.
A giant leg-covering venomous fanged wheeled in terror
that can only have materialized
within one's most horrifying nightmare.
However, this is no bad dream.
And it's certainly no figment of your imagination.
In fact, this animal is as real as it gets.
And for me, the moment you have all been waiting for,
is closer than you think.
(ground crunching)
(dramatic music)
Centipede!
Holy, this.
- [Mark] Where?
- John just showed me right here, right on the side
of this bush. - Where, where, where?
- Wow, look at that.
Hold on a second, let me try to bring it out here
for you guys. (dramatic music)
Pick it up with this.
- [Mark] Be careful.
Oh no, no, no, it's moving.
- [Coyote] Give me that container.
Mario, get that container out of your bag.
- [Mark] Use your hat, use your hat.
Oh it's not working.
You get him?
- Oh no, no, it's so fast.
I can't grab onto it.
Ah, hurry, hurry, hurry.
I got him pinned.
Ew, there he goes.
Ew, ew, it got out.
Ugh.
Oh, nice. (dramatic music)
- [Mark] Got it?
- Woe!
- [Mark] That is a big centipede.
- That will get your heart racing.
The bite from this creature is one of the most painful
here in the southwest and if there is one creature
that gets my heart racing, it is the giant desert centipede.
Wow, that is a big one too.
You see that through the container there?
- [Mark] That might be the biggest one I've seen.
It very well, maybe, wow.
You're looking at a living nightmare right there.
Look at that thing.
- [Mark] That is creepy man.
- [Coyote] Oh my gosh.
I can't tell you how many people have request of me
to get bitten by this creature.
It's a lot.
It's a lot of people.
Have been wanting to know how bad the bite is
from this thing.
- [Mark] I can see it has your gears grinding.
It's got me a little nervous.
- Well I'm definitely not going to do it
under the darkness of night.
What I might be willing to do is
sleep on it
and maybe tomorrow under daylight,
we consider it but in the moment right now,
I'm thinking no, absolutely not.
But I gotta admit.
Part of me is curious.
But part of me is just incredibly fearful.
You're shaking your head no.
- Yeah, I'm, I don't know if I'm comfortable with that man.
This is maybe-- - A bite too far?
- Maybe a bite too far.
- Let's do this, we can certainly hold on to it overnight.
Worse case scenario, we do another episode with it tomorrow.
Just kind of look at it, it's anatomy,
under the light of day and we cross
that bridge when we get to it, how about that?
- [Mark] Okay, I can agree to that.
- Okay, well let's hold on to it.
And see what else we can find tonight.
(exciting exclaiming)
That's gonna top off the night right there.
- [Mark] Great spot dude.
- [Coyote] Man, that's crazy.
(ominous music)
When they say giant desert centipede,
they aren't kidding.
Look at the size of that myriapod.
(dramatic music)
Wow.
It's even more intimidating in the daylight
than it is at night.
Now, we caught this creature last night.
And I said, all right, let's hold on to it.
Let me sleep on it.
Let me think if I really want to be bitten
by this creature.
Here we are seven o'clock in the morning.
I think we all know what's going to happen.
All right guys, I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna be bitten by the giant desert centipede
so that I can explain to you just how painful
the bite from this creature really is.
Now before we get into the bite,
let's take a look at the anatomy of this creature.
Because it's just, it's like the perfect design
for everything that is creepy.
Now it is an arthropod, like insects and arachnids
but technically it's a myriapod,
also related to millipedes.
And when it comes to centipedes,
the giant desert is the largest in the United States.
And this is a creature that you don't often come across
because they're strictly nocturnal.
Now, (sighs).
It is so hard to sit behind this container
and look at this creature.
I mean you can hear it's little legs scratching
on the inside of this capsule.
Woe!
I mean Mark seriously, have you ever seen a creature
that's more nightmarish than this?
- [Mark] Nope and I know this is something
you've been not looking forward to.
- Well, people often want to know,
is there anything that scares Coyote Peterson.
I jump on alligators.
I jump into swamps and catch snapping turtles.
I handle black widows and golden orb-weavers spiders.
But the centipede, ever since I was a kid,
for some reason just always been like, ah,
I don't wanna get near that thing.
Because it has so many legs.
And each one of those legs has a little hook on it.
So when they grab onto something,
they grapple onto something.
And when they bite, those fangs ratchet down
and they hold on.
- [Mark] So this is not not necessarily a bite and run,
this could be a bite and hold?
- Yes, you know what, I've been stung by things
in the past, I hold onto them with the entomology forceps.
And when I do that, I let go of the insect,
it usually falls right off of my arm.
But in this instance, this myriapod is capable
of holding onto me and inflicting more than one bite.
- [Mark] (whistles) All right well.
- Let's do this, at this point,
'cause I know you guys wanna get
a slightly better look at it.
I'm gonna actually take it out of this plastic container
so we can get a good look at its body segmentation
and the little hooks on its feet.
You ready for that?
- [Mark] Okay, let's do it.
- All right, and to do that,
I'm going to just gently.
- [Mark] Oh oh.
Ew.
- [Coyote] I gotta actually pin down its head to do this.
- [Mark] Oh geez, look at how fast--
- [Coyote] See how fast it is?
- [Mark] Now Coyote, I've heard this called
the Cheetah of the dessert.
- [Coyote] Yes.
That is because they are speedy and they are lethal.
Let me see if I can actually.
Man.
- [Mark] You might need a bigger set of forceps.
- [Coyote] There's just no good way to go about this.
(dramatic music)
- [Mark] That was a committed grab if I've ever seen one.
- Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.
Ew each--
- [Mark] What's wrong is it biting you?
- No, each one of these little leg segments
is incredibly sharp.
Look at that body.
Wow, and it is incredibly rigid.
The exoskeleton on this animal's rock solid.
And each of those little leg segments
grapples onto you and it tries to pull itself down
so that the fangs can bite.
Now those fangs are actually called maxilliped.
And they are modified legs on (dramatic music).
It's almost getting me right now.
- [Mark] My goodness.
- Almost got me right there.
- [Mark] That was close.
- Okay, I do not have as good a hold as I thought I did.
I can actually see venom coming out
of the maxilliped, wow, look at those, okay.
That's a slightly better hold.
It almost was capable of completely wrapping
its body down and inflicting that bite
sooner than we wanted it to.
Wow, that is intimating.
Okay, not an easy animal to hold onto.
Because it is so incredibly strong.
All right guys, I'm gonna place it back
into the plastic container here.
Take a minute to compose myself and then,
we're gonna head into the bite.
You ready?
Really gently, and there we go.
Nice, whew!
Barely escaped a bite there.
(dramatic music)
All right guys let me give you a little testimony up here.
(dramatic music)
So as we know, I have taken many bites.
Some of them non-venomous.
Some of them venomous.
Lots of stings.
And the giant desert centipede is the one animal
that I always thought to myself, you know what?
I never want to be bitten by that creature.
But, I have the opportunity to do this and (exhales),
I guess part of me is doing it for curiosity.
Part of me is doing it for science.
And part of me is doing it to find out
just how painful this bite really is.
Now I've heard from several different sources
that it can be more painful that a rattle snack bite,
not as painful as a Gila monster which I've been bitten by.
And some people say it's no more painful than
a honeybee sting.
So, it's all about how my body reacts to the venom.
Now it is going to attack my red blood cells
and I don't know what that will do.
It could potentially wrought a hole in my arm.
It may just cause some localized swelling and pain
and I may be just fine.
But I've kind of climbed the insect sting pain index
and I feel when it comes to bites,
this has got to be the last one.
(ominous music)
(heavy sighing) Oh boy.
This just became a reality.
Wow, there it is.
The giant desert centipede.
And I'm about to be bitten by it.
Okay, well the next thing we need to do
is actually get it out of the this plastic container
and to do that.
I'm gonna gently go in and pin it, ready?
- [Mark] Yep.
(dramatic music)
That's creepy.
- There's the comittment.
Okay, got a hold on it.
Ow man, those little legs are digging into me.
Whew!
Look at those fangs.
My goodness, okay.
Now, I do as always have an epinephrine pen.
I'm just stating that for the record.
And.
- [Mark] Also that.
- Emergency satellite phone.
Always important.
- [Mark] Never had to use it.
Please don't let today be the first time.
(dramatic music)
Camera three rolling.
- GoPro is rolling, okay.
Here we go ready?
I'm Coyote Peterson.
And I'm about to be bitten
by the giant desert centipede.
Here we go.
(dramatic music)
One. (dramatic music)
Two. (dramatic music)
Three. (dramatic music)
(Coyote exhaling heavily)
Oh my gosh.
Right there, there are the fangs,
where you see those paltry marks.
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
(Coyote exhaling heavily) Wow.
Grab the thing.
(Coyote exhaling heavily)
- Immediately searing.
Oh my gosh, it's so much worse than a bullet ant sting.
Aw!
(Coyote screaming in pain)
- [Mark] How sharp are the pains?
- [Coyote] Hold on a second.
Oh my gosh.
(labored breathing)
Aw!
- [Mark] I can see where they went in right there.
(Coyote screaming in pain)
Double chomp.
(Coyote screaming in pain)
- Could you even see that?
It bit in and then curled the skin up.
And then let go and bit a second time.
- [Mark] Yeah.
(Coyote screaming in pain)
Oh wow.
(Coyote screaming in pain)
- [Mark] I can see your blood coming to the surface.
(Coyote exhaling heavily)
Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me.
- Okay, okay.
- [Mark] I gotta know you're not like in serious trouble.
You gotta keep talking to me.
(Coyote exhaling heavily)
- It's a different pain than any sting I've taken.
It's searing.
It is absolutely searing.
(Coyote screaming in pain) (dramatic music)
I'm sorry, I can't compose words right now man!
(Coyote screaming in pain)
I need some water, I need some water.
(Coyote exhaling heavily)
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] Describe to me where you feel the pain.
Is it is just localized to the bite?
- It's going up my arm.
It is going up my arm just like the venom in Gila monster.
Man look at the welts that are forming
that are forming on my arm.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
Dude we might need to use that venom extractor.
This is.
(Coyote grunting in pain) (dramatic music)
Just cut the cameras, cut the cameras!
We gotta get the venom extractor!
We gotta get this venom out of my arm!
(Coyote screaming in pain)
I'm serious, we got to cut the cameras, cut the cameras!
(Coyote screaming in pain) (dramatic music)
- I'm rolling cameras. - Okay.
- [Mark] I'm rolling, I'm rolling.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
Um, Mario here. - Yeah.
- Can you turn on the satellite phone just in case?
I'm gonna get this venom extractor out.
(Coyote grunting in pain) (dramatic music)
- Oh my gosh guys, okay.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] Tourniquet or no tourniquet?
- Uh yeah, use the, give me, I just wanna like,
so we can, (grunts).
I think I'm gonna vomit. (gagging)
(dramatic music)
- Okay. (Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] I'm gonna put the camera down.
- Oh my gosh, this is really bad.
All right Mario, you're gonna have to keep rolling on this.
We've got the GoPro going too.
- [Mark] It is spreading right?
- It is spreading, it is spreading.
Now we have never used a venom extractor before
in an episode guys and uh.
It is so painful right now, given the isolation
of where I was bitten.
When I was bitten by the Gila monster in my thumb,
we couldn't use a venom extractor.
I'm gonna try to see if we can't suck some of that venom
out of my forearm.
Uh, the pain is bad that I actually was almost in tears.
- Okay. - We're gonna cut the camera--
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- I'm gonna try to just get some of this off
so I don't wanna put venom back in there.
- [Coyote] Yep, yep, yep.
You can actually see the venom seeping out of the,
edge of my arm.
Look at the welt that is swelling.
Now if a centipede attacks a prey.
- [Mark] Yeah, I can feel, it's swelling bad.
- Uh.
- [Mark] Okay, so there's two sites.
There's site one, site two.
Do you know which was first?
- [Coyote] Uh no, no, the one up front
was the first one and then it tucked its head back
and it bit again.
Actually you can see the black and blue mark there.
I actually think that second spot injected more venom.
- [Mark] Yep.
- So you wanna do is, yep, cuff down on that.
- I think I can get them all in one.
- You may be able to get it all.
Mario, you got a tight shot on that?
(dramatic music)
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] Okay.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
Okay--
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Coyote] Oh my gosh, that's only making it hurt worse.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] Just let it do the work.
- [Coyote] Oh my gosh, it's crazy.
You can actually see the venom coming up through the holes
where the fangs,
can you see that, see if you can zoom in on that.
(Coyote grunting in pain) (dramatic music)
- [Mark] You've got to tell us if you feel like
you gotta get out of here,
we can get you out of here.
(Coyote sighing heavily) (dramatic music)
- Okay, like the Gila monster bite,
it comes in waves of pain.
Right now, I'm at a down tread in the pain.
Now. (screaming in pain)
Dude, waves of pain guys!
(Coyote grunting in pain)
Okay, let's take this off.
- [Mark] No, you have to peel it off.
- Okay, unlock it. (Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] Okay, I gotta put my camera down, hang on.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
Here we go, ready?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(dramatic music)
- [Mark] Okay, and now we're gonna take it down.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- Okay, zoom in on that.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] You can definitely see the venom.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- Oh my gosh, you can see the destruction in the arm
right there, you see how black
and blue it's already turning?
(dramatic music)
It is not, ugh.
It is not as bad as the Gila monster.
In the sense that the Gila monster sliced through my thumb
and opened me up.
But this,
absolutely eclipses any insect sting I have ever taken.
It makes the bullet ant feel like a bee sting.
It makes 30 bee stings to the face feel like
putting on facial moisturizer.
This is the most intense pain I've been in
since the Gila monster.
And in this moment, I am regretting being bitten
by the giant desert centipede.
Guys, I do have this tourniquet on me
just lightly placed.
You don't ever want to place a tourniquet down too tightly
'cause if you do, all you're doing is forcing
your heart to beat faster and that venom to pump through
your system quicker.
Now okay, I'm gonna wipe that back
and we're gonna put the extractor on a second time.
- [Mark] Is it pins and needles pain or--
- Oh no, it is searing pain.
It is, someone has taken a hot poker
and shoved it into my forearm.
My arm is in a state of paralysis right now.
I cannot move my hand at all.
My arm is swollen taut. (grunts)
Let's do a second extraction here.
- Ready? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
This actually hurts really bad just to do this, ready.
- [Mark] One, two, three.
(Coyote grunting in pain) (dramatic music)
- The venom extractor just puts so much isolated pain
right in that area.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
(Coyote sighing heavily) (dramatic music)
- You think it's subsiding?
(Coyote sighs)
- Now the venom from the giant desert centipede
has a cocktail of potency.
And that cocktail is called cytolysis.
And right now, what's happening is that venom
is attacking my red blood cells
and it is breaking them apart.
And that is the pain that I am feeling right now.
And trust me when I say,
it is unbelievably intense.
(Coyote grunting in pain) (dramatic music)
- Wow.
- Let's take off the venom extractor.
All right, so dude,
I gotta turn this and just unlock it, right?
- Yep. - Okay ready?
- [Mark] Yep. (faint talking)
- Okay. - There we go.
(dramatic music)
(Coyote grunting in pain)
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
You can definitely see,
there's some residual venom coming out of there.
- [Coyote] Okay, get a shot of that with the GoPro.
Man.
- [Mark] That is a lot of venom actually.
- Man, that is painful.
(Coyote sighing heavily)
It is easily as bad as I imagined.
Oh my gosh.
(somber music)
- [Mark] Let's take the tourniquet off here.
- Yeah, go ahead, go head, take that off, take that off.
- [Mark] Great.
You ready? - Yep.
- [Mark] One, two, three.
(Coyote sighing)
- There's you guys.
- (sighing) Man.
- [Mark] First time we ever had to use the venom extractor.
- The venom seems to have stopped.
In about the area where we had the tourniquet
which is good.
I do believe that the venom extractor helped.
Right now, all I wanna do is simply get out
of the hot desert sun
and into an air-conditioned environment.
All I can say is this guys,
if you ever come across one of these myriapods in the wild,
simply admire it from a very safe distance.
Do not try to catch it.
Do not try to handle it because take my word for it,
this pain is absolutely unbelievably intense.
You do not want to be bitten by this animal.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
(Coyote grunting)
(pensive music)
If you ever have an encounter with a giant desert centipede
in the wild, it's important to remember
that these animals do their best to avoid humans.
And interactions let alone bites,
are incredibly rare.
As the hours pass by, my arm continued to throb.
And the worst part of it all,
was that with every wave that rushed through my body,
the pain was only intensified.
Several hours into the ordeal,
I threw up the white flag
and requested medical treatment for the bite.
This was the first time that my mind and body
were unable to endure the pain of a bite or a sting.
It was truly that bad.
(dramatic music)
All right guys, well it has been 30 hours
since I was bitten by the giant desert centipede.
(dramatic music)
(Coyote screaming in pain)
Now that you've seen me go through this,
hopefully you will truly take away a message
that is you simply admire these things from a safe distance.
I do not want to see pictures out there
on Instagram or Facebook or Snapchat of anybody handling
one of these myriapods.
Guys, I'm tough right, we know that.
I gotta high pain tolerance but this put me over the edge.
It is more pain that I have ever been in.
You can see on my face.
I am exhausted right now.
I have not slept in 36 hours.
And it's a pain that I couldn't stop.
That was the scariest part,
is when the pain was taking over my arm,
all the way up into my shoulder,
I couldn't stop it and it was only becoming worse.
In all of my time filming episodes
for the Brave Wilderness channel,
I have not once gone to see
a doctor after a bite or a sting.
The giant desert centipede put me in urgent care.
That's how serious it is.
(dramatic music)
In the end, was facing my fears of being bitten
by this nightmare of a creature worth it?
(Coyote screaming in pain)
Well.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
At first as I rolled around on the ground
in agonizing pain, I would have told you no.
(Coyote grunting in pain) However.
Now that the pain is long gone,
and all that remains are the haunting memories,
I would actually have to say that yes,
it was worth it.
Because together,
we learned about the giant desert centipede
and most importantly, how bad the bite really is.
If you are ever unfortunate enough to be bitten
by one of these animals,
seek medical treatment immediately.
As for me, I'm sure that some of you still think
I am absolutely crazy.
But at least I can now probably say,
that what was once my fear of centipedes
has now evolved into a new found fascination and respect
for one of the planet's creepiest creatures.
(dramatic music)
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 screaming in pain)
You little devil!
Oh, the executioner lives up to it's names.
Oh my gosh.
(Coyote grunting in pain)
(coyote howling)