Original subtitles

The insect sting pain

index needs no new introduction in relation to the work

that we do.

And my climb towards its summit, began with a small creature

known as the harvester ant.

This experiments into what happens from an onslaught

of stings open the door to a world of pain

that I would attempt to endure in the name

of education and science.

Argh!

One's on my neck.

Mark get the one off my neck.

If you were watching this video, there's

a good chance you remember the velvet ant,

also known as a cow killer.

This wingless Wasp is famous for having the largest

stinger in the insect kingdom.

A sting from that creature was intense

but it didn't end there.

This is the worst sting I've ever taken.

Oh my god.

Gosh!

This is super bad.

The tarantula hawk delivered as promised

with a tidal wave of pain that literally put my arm

into a state of paralysis.

I can't move my arm.

And finally, came the moment that the world

had been waiting for, the one and only bullet ant.

Ranked as having the most painful sting

in the insect kingdom, it seemed as if I had conquered

the sting pain index mountain.

Gosh!

Dude's stuck on my arm.

Look at that.

I had reached the summit.

I had done.

Or had them.

Whispers began to drift amongst the two comments section.

Questions began to arise as to whether or not the bullet

ant is truly the king of sting.

It's burning more.

It's getting worse.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

These whispers turned into a haunting echo.

What about the warrior wasps?

Coyote, had you heard about the warrior wasp.

Are you going to stung by the warrior wasp.

Warrior wasp.

Warrior wasp.

Warrior wasp.

That is an enormous nest of angry warrior wasps.

And a lot higher up there and I thought, this is going.

To definitely be tough.

I look again, double check.

Yep.

Those are warrior wasps.

100%.

And that nest is so big there are probably

thousands of them in there.

All inside the walls.

All it takes is a little disturbance

for them to literally spill out and swarm like mad.

And they're incredibly fast, much faster

than your typical paper wasp.

The local expert that tipped us off to this field said,

yeah, I've seen warrior wasps there before.

Actually, one point threw a rock through the nest.

And I was told that they spilled out of the nest so fast.

He barely even had time to think about running,

let alone making an escape to try to get to his vehicle.

And in the process, he was stung multiple times

and had to go to hospital.

We do know they are incredibly fast and incredibly aggressive.

So, for Mark and Mario, we are going to actually

set up a mosquito net here underneath the overhang

of this tree.

Now that will hopefully keep you guys safe and out

of the sting zone because as we know,

stings don't go with this.

They are simply on my forearm.

Not all over our bodies.

I'm going to be wearing a bee suit.

So hopefully, that will protect me as I go in to extract one

of these ornery little insects.

And with any luck, we're going to get

one up close for the cameras.

Known as one of the most aggressive paper wasp species

in the world, these beautiful insects

carry the warrior moniker from the commitment

to attacking anything that disturbs their nest.

However, very few people have ever been

stung by one of these insects.

Because unlike normal paper wasp species,

they often build their massive nest

high up in the trees of the Central and South American

rainforests, a place where humans

virtually never encounter them.

Let's go catch a warrior wasp.

All right guys.

I think I'm ready.

Let's get you tucked underneath the net here.

Now, in the event that I am swarmed, it is best for you

guys to just stay completely put and underneath this.

Wrap yourselves up as tight as you can.

It's a good chance they're not going to get through there.

It's a mosquito net.

So all the webbing is very tightly wound.

Yeah.

Nothing can really get through this

but still it's going to be a pretty nerve-wrecking

experience if this thing is swarm by the most painful

stinging wasp in the world.

All right.

Are you guys ready?

Ready. It's good.

All right, guys.

I'm now going to slowly approach the nest.

And the goal is going to be to just hold the net up in the air

and see if I get wasps to actually come to the net.

If I'm swarmed, it is going to be

one incredibly bad situation.

I'm very close now.

We're all down on the low end.

Wuh, it's getting to swarm around me.

There are a couple moving around me left and right.

My tactic was simple, coax a single wasp from the nest using

my extendable GoPro arm and then quickly swipe

it up using my entomology net.

This was primed to be one of the most dangerous animal catches

I had ever attempted as disturbing the nest could

literally mean thousands of these fearless warriors

swarming me and the crew.

OK.

I'm going to cut this handheld camera and go for a catch.

Here we go.

I got one.

I got one held on my arm.

I got one.

Doctor, we got one.

A big one too.

Wuh.

Fully caught. That totally works.

OK, there it is. Right there in the net.

You see It? Yeah

And what I did, is I just provoked

one off the edge with the Aquapod

and got it right into the net.

Check that out. Wow.

OK.

Now this is the difficult part.

I need to safely get it out of the net

and into the capsule within one second here.

Oh man, my arm is shaking.

That was the most perfect swipe I

could have possibly attempted.

Nothing got scared.

And there's wasp on the edge of the net.

I just soaked the with the Aquapod.

It came off.

One swipe and I had it.

Hold on a second.

Yes, there it is.

Wow, there we have it.

That is the warrior wasp.

Oh my gosh.

That is a large wasp.

Wow.

I was excited to catch it.

Now I realized I had just sealed my fate.

That is crazy.

Look at the abdomen on that creature.

Well, part one of this mission is in the capsule.

Part two is to get me stung.

Huh.

I've a feeling that this may be just as bad as the bullet ant.

Just based on the knowledge that these are extremely aggressive,

I have a feeling the sting is going

to be unbelievably painful.

But I am mentally prepared to take the sting.

And I know that this is the moment that everybody's

been waiting for.

We thought that I had climbed the insect sting pain index

and reached the summit.

And that was it.

The bullet ant was it.

Of course, we all knew it's warrior wasp

at the end of that episode.

And ever since, you guys have been asking for it.

So today, Coyote Peterson is going to deliver.

Here we go.

There it is.

That is a warrior wasp.

Now, the ultimate question that we are answering today

is, will the warrior wasp's sting be more

painful than the bullet ant?

Huh, I have to just sit back for a second

and admire this creature.

How can something only that big, about an inch in length,

possibly contain such a potent sting?

Look at that iridescent blue coloration

on the wings and its abdomen.

It almost looks as if it's covered in velvet.

You'll notice the body structure of this wasp is very distinct.

Of course it has the head, a thorax,

and then a very, very narrow space between its thorax

and its abdomen.

Now one thing that I did notice when we saw these out flying

around the nest is when they fly,

they actually turn their abdomens

upwards to point in the air.

That's very different looking than other species

that we see flying around.

What's interesting is that this thing looks like a warrior.

And when all of them are together

and they're on the outside of the hive, what they will do

to ward off anything that's thinking

about getting into the hive is to pom

pom, pom pom pom, pom pom.

And sometimes, they are actually called

drumming wasps because they beat their wings

together all in unison.

And that's where they get the name, warrior wasp.

It sounds like soldiers marching.

So when I look at this creature and its fierce appearance,

it definitely reminds me of one determined warrior.

And you know the other thing that's

really interesting about these wasps

is they have massive front mandibles.

Now, this is a species that will kill caterpillars and bring

them back to feed their young.

But they mostly feed on nectar and sugars.

So this is not a creature that's out there hunting for itself,

only hunting for its young, but those front mandibles,

I can easily see will be used to decapitate or kill something

like a caterpillar or a grub.

Whoa, it's an intimidating face on that creature.

It almost looks like the face of the bullet ant

but of course it has wings and a slightly

different body structure.

This is the only time I have ever seen a blue wasp.

Look at that.

Now, just like we did with the tarantula hawk,

the way to get this animal to sting me is we're

going to actually place the glass

capsule inside of this net.

And I'm going to take off the glass top,

let the net fall down on top of the insect,

and I'm going to pick it up with these entomology forceps.

I think you guys all know the game plan from there.

Coyote's arm goes down on the table,

the insect touches my forearm, and a sting is induced.

Now, of course for safety, we always

have an epinephrine pen on set just

in case anybody's wondering.

I'm going to just place this off to the side at this point.

And if you guys are ready, let's get

the warrior wasp Into the net.

Mark, are you all set?

We're all set.

What happens if the wasp gets aggressive and flies at us?

Uh, that's a great

question because I will tell you what, this is one fast insect.

Now, when I'm stung, as always, I'm

going to try to get the glass capsule back over top.

If I do not and the wasp flies off,

just hold your ground for a second.

Good chances, it just wants to escape

and it's not going to come after you guys.

But if you are stung, I'm pretty much just

going to turn the cameras around and film

you guys and see what happens.

[laughing] Ah let's not do that today

Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Well, so far I've managed to get every one

of these stinging insects back inside the glass capsule

so that we can safely release it back into the wild right where

it came from.

And with any luck, we'll be able to pull

that off again once more today.

Let's keep that streak alive.

Yes, Yes.

For you guys' sake, let's definitely keep it alive.

Mario, are you ready?

Ready.

Mark, are you ready?

I'm ready if you're ready.

All right.

I am going to slide the warrior wasp off to the side.

You stay there, buddy.

I'm going to place the net right in the middle of the table.

Just like I did with the tarantula hawk,

I'm going to replace the capsule right there

and I'm going to lift up the net.

See that.

Good, you guys got that shot?

Yep.

I'm now going to remove the glass capsule

and let the wasp--

Very delicate procedure.

Oh.

OK.

The wasp is in the net.

I'm going to gently pin it and I need to grab it right

at the back of its thorax.

Got it.

Perfect hold.

Yes.

OK.

Wow.

We got it there.

There we have it.

OK, I'm going to have to do this quick.

And that is about as good a hold as I am going to get.

Well, I can see the stinger.

Wow, look at that stinger.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

And I'm about to enter the sting zone with the warrior wasp.

Here we go, One.

Two.

On the ground already.

Exactly what're you feeling?

Oh man, Oh man.

Yep.

Oh, it's bad.

Oh man, it's getting a lot worse really quickly.

So far, not as bad as a bull ant though.

Oh.

Nope, nope, nope, hold on.

It's a sharp, shooting pain.

There's the sting zone right there.

You see that?

Oh my gosh, my arm has swollen really, really quickly.

Ah!

Pull up.

Back to the table.

Back to the table.

OK.

So what is happening right now is the venom is getting

into my bloodstream, right?

And what's happening is it is breaking down the membranes

around my blood cells.

And it's causing them to scatter.

Now, there are cells in there that are neurons, right?

Those neurons are sending messages to my brain that are

screaming, pain, pain, pain.

And trust me when I say there's massive amounts of pain

going through my arm right now.

The initial onset is not as bad as the bullet ant.

But it's an electrical shock similar to that

of the tarantula hawk.

Hold on, let me compose myself guys for a second.

Oh my gosh, the pain is actually

getting worse as time goes on.

And I don't know if that's actually the venom taking hold

or that's just the neurons firing to my brain saying,

you are in a lot of pain right now, Coyote.

Oh my gosh, give me a second.

We see the red?

It seems more squirmy.

That can't sit still.

This is more of a continuous sting than the bullet ant was.

This keeps firing.

This just keeps firing.

Cut this Go-Pro

Let me know if I need to be worried.

Document it.

I'm trying to just mentally like absorb the pain right now.

And I'm all tired.

We've been working hard all day and it is hot out here.

I'm lightheaded.

You know, when you get to a really hot shower

and the steam sets on you, feel like you're going to faint?

I do feel like I'm getting close to fainting.

And that it's not good.

I'm just trying to control my breathing.

Look at that, welt. Man.

That thing walloped me.

I can only imagine what it would be like to be swarmed by this.

Just a single sting to worse.

This sting of a yellow jacket.

The initial sting was not as painful as the tarantula hawk

but then it set in.

And it was electrical in nature.

It felt like an electrical current going into my arm.

And I was, over here, just hitting the ground saying,

it's not not as bad as the bullet ant.

But in its own way, it's different.

Because the bullet ant hit me and then just kept radiating.

This feels like I'm being stung over and over and over.

Man, it's really swollen.

Usually, it doesn't swell that way.

Look at that.

Go ahead huh.

Put your hand up.

Feel the tightness of my forearm.

Oh yeah.

You can see-- Oh yeah.

Thick right there.

- stinger insertion point is definitely swollen.

It is very much isolated.

It almost looks like a little bb or something

underneath my skin.

That's, you know, you're acting

more like he did with the bees.

Look at that.

Immediate welt.

You know, my body may start to react differently to venom.

At this point, I'm just feeling really lightheaded.

Very hot.

My arm is very hot and not necessarily

a state of paralysis like the tarantula hawk, but my--

The tightness in your chest there.

Not my chest, tightness in my hand.

Like this motion, squeezing of my hand,

is very, very difficult right now.

I'm really having a hard time squeezing down a fist.

And you can see the swelling setting in there.

It does still feel like pins and needles in my arm.

But I know that everybody wants me to answer the question,

is the sting from the warrior wasp more

painful than the bullet ant?

I would definitely say that the bullet ant is worse.

However, keep this in mind, if you come across a bullet ant

while you're out there venturing through the rainforest of Costa

Rica, let's say one lands on your arm, pours out of a tree

and stings you, you can easily brush it off.

However, if you stumble upon a nest of warrior wasps

and you disturb it, you're going to have thousands

of angry insects attacking you, and not only

are they going to be attacking, but they're

going to be chasing as you run through the underbrush.

Now, I imagine if you were to take

sting after sting after sting.

It could potentially be lethal.

So word to the wise, if you're out there in the rainforest

of Costa Rica, simply admire these animals

from a safe distance and always pay

attention to your surroundings.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

Hey, wait a second.

I feel like we're missing something.

What?

Your famous line.

Oh.

You didn't notice my T-shirt?

Oh.

I've been wearing this all day, man.

Check it out.

And read the comments, guys.

As I hike back through the sweltering

rainforest, I could feel the physical and mental

exhaustion setting in.

But I knew there was still one thing left to do.

All right, guys.

Well, my arm is in considerable pain right now.

But as always, it is time to release the creature back

into the wild.

So what I'm going to do is open up the capsule,

and let this warrior wasp fly right back up to its nest.

Slowly opening the capsule, I released this fearless warrior

and watched as it returned to the nest.

I felt a sense of completion.

My personal mountain, known as the insect sting pain index,

had finally been conquered.

It was a long, painful journey.

But as I climbed past the cow killer,

traversed the tarantula hawk, battled the bullet ant,

and now withstood the warrior wasp,

I felt as if I had finally reached the summit.

However, as I stood upon this moment in time,

it seemed to pass in a flash as I was quickly reminded

that the universe will always present its next challenge when

we least expect it.

All right, guys.

So we have looked up the vespid wasps of Latin America.

And I have found out what this is.

Just after we finished filming the warrior wasp,

we came upon a species whose sting had yet

to be officially documented and ranked

on the insect sting pain index.

Could this sleeping giant be the dark horse

that would emerge from the shadows

to claim the throne as the newly established king of sting?

There is only one way to find out.

I'm going to be stung by the executioner wasp.