Original subtitles

I'm Coyote Petersen.

This morning we're going to answer the question,

do ants bite or do they sting?

And I'm about to find out firsthand.

Ah!

Oh!

Ah!

The southwestern United States has a reputation

of being rough and rugged.

It's cowboy country.

And in many people's minds, it is

laced with dangerous reptiles and dream haunting arachnids.

When it comes to Arizona's Sonoran desert,

a fair share of this lore is true.

There are venomous animals and some pretty big spiders.

It never becomes any less nerve wracking

to pick up a tarantula.

I promise you that.

But trust me when I say they are much more afraid of you then

you should ever be of them.

Insects, on the other hand, are another story.

And living in many Arizona backyards

is a fearless creature armed with one of the most

toxic venoms in the world.

And while they are no bigger than the tip of your finger,

they are absolutely fearless when it

comes to attacking an intruder.

OK, so right now I am tucking my pant legs into my boots,

because what I am standing in is the attack

zone of the harvester ant.

Now there are many species of ants that live out here

in the Sonoran desert, but nothing

is more aggressive than the harvester ant.

All ants have the ability to bite,

but what most people don't realize

is that many species, including the harvester ant,

also have the ability to sting.

And boy is it a whopper!

What I'm going to try to do is see

if I can get harvester ants on my hands

and let them bite and sting me for 60 seconds.

If you guys want me to be stung by the bullet ant someday,

I think you have to walk before you can run.

So I think the harvester ant is a great test to see how I will

fend against the bullet ant.

All right.

You ready?

Now before I go through with this,

let's talk about the toxicity of the harvester ant.

A single sting is said to be almost 20 times

as potent as a honeybee.

Personally, I'm not allergic to any bees, wasps, or hornets.

Still this is incredibly dangerous.

So I stress, never, and I may never, attempt what you are

about to see in this episode.

I'm basically just going to put my hands

down right here in front of their burrow

and let them hop on.

When harvester ants attack, they used

their powerful mandibles to bite and hold onto their victim--

Ah!

Yeah, getting stung already.

Ah!-- while repetitively stinging

and injecting venom through the stinger

at the base of their abdomen.

Oh, that burns!

The venom is laced with an alkaloid poison, which

when released, produces is an alarm

pheromone that causes other ants in the area to attack.

Ah!

Ah!

They're all over my hands now.

Look at that!

This was very obvious, as after the first sting was inflicted,

it seemed as if the entire colony

was called to the front lines.

Oh, boy!

60 seconds seemed like a lifetime--

Ah!

- as tiny stingers jabbed me over and over.

I could feel them getting into my clothes, up my back,

and onto my neck.

Ah!

Ow, there's one on my neck.

Mario, get the one off my neck.

And eventually, the pain became too much.

All right.

I think that's 60 seconds.

I was done.

The ants had won.

I gotta take my shirt off.

So why in the world did I do this?

Well, many of you out there watching

have requested that I be stung by a bullet ant, which

can inflict a single sting that is

considered to be one of the most painful

stings in the animal kingdom.

Whew.

Ah!

There's still one in my pants!

Oh!

This is truly the meaning of the ants in your pants!

The producers and I wanted to see

how my body would react to several stings

from the harvester ant.

When it was all said and done, the crew and I

counted 63 sting zones.

And the effects of the venom lasted for nearly a week, which

included searing pain during the first couple hours,

followed by swelling, tenderness,

and periodic itching.

My arms, my hands, the back of my head

are absolutely on fire right now.

Wow!

The harvester ant is one formidable little foe

I can tell you that much.

If I could sustain this, maybe, just maybe, the bullet ant

challenge isn't too far off.

You got to get a shot, man.

Come on over.

I know it hurts.

I think half hour from now, if I'm OK,

there's a good chance that I'm going

to be able to get up close, possibly stung,

by the bullet ant.

I'm Coyote Petersen.

Be brave, stay wild, stay away from harvester ants.

I'll see you on the next adventure.

I'm Coyote Petersen, and you're never going to believe

what I have cupped in my hand.

Are you ready?

One, two, three!

Ah!

Oh, it's going up my arm!

By the light of day, the desert appears to be

void of any living creatures.

And if you find yourself in the heart of the Sonoran desert,

the intense sun and scorching heat

can reach temperatures close to 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Survival in those conditions, without water and shade,

is almost impossible.

However, as the sun disappears beyond the horizon,

and the cool darkness of night sets in,

the seemingly uninhabitable desert awakens with creatures.

Exploring the desert at night is a true adventure.

Right now, I'm sitting in the middle

of a wash, which is pretty much the equivalent

of an animal superhighway.

I say we had that direction and see what we can find.

Power up your flashlight to brave the night,

and you're almost certain to have

some animal encounters that you are not likely to forget.

Oh, jeez. Come here.

Check this out. You got some?

Yeah.

Whoa!

It's neither a scorpion or spider.

It's a solpugid, also known as a scorpion or a sun spider.

Now they're actually really fast,

so I'm hoping he's just going to stay on that rock.

Is this-- how dangerous is this?

Well, they're not venomous, so it's not that dangerous.

But if you look at that front set of mandibles right there,

get your finger close to that and you're

going to get quite the pinch.

And these guys have an incredible defensive posture.

Look at that.

They will not back down.

That is for sure.

OK, stay right there on that rock.

Oh, my gosh.

OK, I'm going to--

all right.

He's-- he's like, OK, I've been spotted.

You can go on my hand.

Here we go.

Look at that.

Whoa, boy. Stay there.

Stay there. Stay there.

Oh. - OK.

Don't want it on my back.

Don't want it on my back.

Get on my hand.

Oh, my gosh!

It feels so creepy.

Like a tarantula, only faster, thankfully it doesn't

have a stinger like a scorpion.

Look at that.

OK, stay.

Now these arachnids have become incredibly famous

on the internet.

We actually have them all over the world.

And there's some famous pictures out there floating around

where people will actually hold them up in front of a camera

with a forced perspective to make them look so much

bigger than they really are.

This is honestly the biggest one that I've ever seen.

And just like any arachnid, they do have eight legs.

But this front set up here, which is actually 9 and 10,

are the pedipalps.

And unlike a scorpion, they don't have pinschers,

but they have all these sticky little hairs.

So let's say--

I hope he doesn't lunge out and bite me--

if a moth flies towards him like that.

You see that?

Watch.

Like that.

He can grab with those pedipalps.

And those little hairs are sticky,

and then he shoves his prey right

into those front mandibles.

Oh, come here.

Come here.

And then he's got dinner.

And that's basically like being thrown into a set

of giant razor-sharp shears.

Oh. - Look out.

He's coming towards your leg.

OK, I got him. I got him.

I got him.

OK.

That gets your heart racing.

OK.

Have you ever been bit by one of these?

No.

Worst case scenario, if I am bitten by this creature,

it is non-venomous.

Most people think that this is a venomous animal like a scorpion

or a spider, but a bite from this

is going to cause a little bit of irritation.

But if I take a bite, I'm going to be just fine.

Would you be willing to take a bite?

Really?

You had to ask that?

I dare you.

I mean, this is the biggest one that I've ever seen.

It would-- it actually could kind of prove a cool point

that they are not venomous, despite the fact that they look

like they're the predator from Arnold

Schwarzenegger's famous movie.

Getting the speedy arachnid under control

was rather difficult. But once I had it gently

placed in my fingers, it was time to test out

those vicious looking chompers.

I'm Coyote Petersen, and I'm about to enter the strike

zone with the solpugid.

Ready?

One, two, three.

Ow!

Ow!

Ah!

Oh, yeah.

Can you see that?

Holy cow, that hurts!

Wow!

That pressure is unbelievable!

Oh, my gosh!

His little mandibles are razor sharp.

Oh!

Ow!

Whew.

Geez, that hurts like little tiny needles

going into my finger.

How was that?

That was not fun.

He didn't actually break skin.

Although it felt like he was cutting through,

using his mandibles like scissors.

As you can see, Mr. Solpugid is just fine.

I think I'm a little worse for the wear.

But the point is, I'm actually not bleeding

and he certainly is not venomous.

Not a creature that you need to be afraid of.

Just when I thought the creatures of the desert

couldn't get any more bizarre, we bump into the solpugid.

And getting bit by one?

Whew!

Guys, that's an experience that I'm certainly

never going to forget.

But hopefully we've proven that these little arachnids are not

venomous, and their bark, sorry, buddy,

is far worse than their bite.

I'm Coyote Petersen.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

All right little predator, back off into the desert with you.

From a bird's-eye-view, the Sonoran desert looks

like nothing more than a scattering

of rocks and sparse plants.

But we all know by now that it is alive with animals.

During the daylight hours, these creatures

stay hidden, doing their best to avoid the scorching sun.

Yet when this glowing orb disappears behind the mountains

and darkness sets in, a menagerie

of creepy-crawly nightmares emerge from the shadows.

In past episodes, we have shown you many of these animals,

almost all of which are venomous and that we as a team

consider to be biological landmines.

Break it down a bit further, and you

have what I call the triple S--

snakes, spiders, and scorpions.

Just the word "scorpion" makes my skin crawl.

And the Sonoran desert is home to three distinct species.

The notorious bark scorpion, the striped tailed,

and the giant desert hairy.

We have featured these arachnids before,

and I even free-handled the bark scorpion,

which possesses the most painful scorpion

sting in the United States.

For me this is also different and extremely nerve wracking.

But the reason that I'm doing this

is to prove that these scorpions aren't

just out there to sting you.

However, this brought about one very interesting question.

If the bark scorpion is considered to be the worst,

then what is the sting pain difference

between the giant desert hairy and the stripe tailed?

So tonight, I'm going to be stung by both to bring

us the answer to that question.

Warning, scorpion stings can be incredibly

painful and potentially lethal.

Never attempt to replicate this experiment.

All right.

You see the gap?

Yes! All right.

Let's go.

There they are, guys.

On my left, the giant desert hairy scorpion.

And on the right, the stripe tailed scorpion.

Two of the most common species here in the Sonoran desert.

Scorpions absolutely creep me out.

I'm just going to turn this giant desert hairy scorpion

toward you there.

Look at that thing!

Pinchers, stingers, fur, oh!

The little striped tail scorpion is actually kind of cute.

He's just curled up in the corner there.

Pretty cool to see the difference between the two

of them up close like that.

Look at that size difference.

That is pretty intimidating.

You may be wondering to yourselves, Coyote,

are you nervous?

Oh, yeah.

I am definitely nervous.

Because I'm going to be stung on one

hand by one species of scorpion, and the other hand,

by the other species of scorpion.

Now the reason that I'm being stung

is to prove that it's not all about size.

Size doesn't necessarily matter when it comes to the pain

and potency of a sting.

So we're going to find out whether the giant desert

hairy scorpion is more painful than the stripe tail scorpion,

or vice versa.

I mean you look at the giant desert hairy scorpion,

that's a big arachnid!

Definitely intimidating.

And then you look at the stripe tail, you're like,

oh, he's tiny!

He's almost cute.

That sting can't hurt that bad.

Oftentimes, what you want to look at

are the pinchers, or as they're properly

known in the scientific community, as pedipalps.

Now those are the front arms that

have these little claw-looking appendages, right?

The pedipalps oftentimes signify whether or not

a scorpion has potent venom.

That's because the smaller the pedipalps,

oftentimes the more potent the sting.

You'll notice the giant desert hairy scorpion's

pedipalps are enormous, right?

It can grab on to its prey, squeeze, and crush

it, and then inflict a sting.

When it comes to the stripe tail scorpion,

the pedipalps are actually pretty small.

So I'm thinking this venom may be more potent.

But I think ultimately we're going to test it on my hands,

and see exactly which one is more painful in the realm

of human experience.

It's definitely more intimidating to look

at the larger scorpion.

Yeah.

Well, and what's cool about the giant desert hairy scorpion,

and where they get their name, is I can actually

see this really well through the light beams there,

are all of the hairs that are growing on the tail.

And you may not have known this, but the little bulb

at the end of the tail there, that's called the telson.

And the telson is what connects to the stinger,

and that is where all of the venom is stored.

Looks like it wants to sting you right now.

Yeah, it's-- it's coming right for me,

thinking to itself, I just--

let me get a wallop at your hand, Coyote!

I'll send you packing!

The little stripe tail, he's just curled up in a ball there.

Saying, all right, I'm in the bright lights.

Maybe if I don't move, I'll be camouflaged

and nobody will see me.

Well, I think since the desert

hairy appears to be volunteering,

it should go first.

It does look like it's volunteering, doesn't it?

Yeah.

OK, now the way that I'm

going to do this is I'm going to use forceps to pick

up the scorpion by its tail.

Then I'm going to actually get hold of the back knuckle

of the tail and the telson, and I'm

going to gently place the scorpion

in the crux of my hand.

I will loosely position it in place, let go of the tail.

Whap!

And I'm going to get stung somewhere in that general area.

Now in case you guys are wondering, as always we

have an epinephrine pen right here, just in case

my body has some sort of negative allergic reaction

to the venom.

But keep this in mind, there is no reported case

of anyone ever dying from either of these two scorpion species.

The only real danger that these scorpions possess

is that their sting is painful.

It's not going to kill you.

Well, I think it is time

to compare the giant desert hairy scorpion sting

to the stripe tail scorpion sting.

Are you guys ready?

I'm ready if you're ready.

I-- this is crazy, but if you're up for it.

Whew.

[laughs] You don't want to do it?

It's not easy!

Well, and it's not even one sting.

It's going to be two different stings.

I've never done two stings before,

so this one is a little bit different.

But I think I am ready.

OK, so I'm going to put the stripe

tail down here out of the shot.

I'm also going to move the epinephrine pen

down here onto my pack, and bring in this GoPro.

Rolling?

Whew.

Here I go.

Just became real, didn't it?

Whew.

I'm going to get the scorpion out.

Whew.

Here we go.

It's a risky little balancing game there, isn't it?

Now I'm going to keep the plastic container right here,

because I have a feeling that as soon as I am stung,

I'm going to drop the scorpion and then I

have to put the container back on top of it.

Or at least I'm going to try, just like I have with some

of the insects in the past.

This arachnid, though, may scurry off the table.

If it does, don't worry about it.

Guys, don't try to get the scorpion.

I'll try to compose myself and get it back under control.

If it gets away, it's just going to run off into the desert.

Whew.

I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter

the sting zone with the giant desert hairy scorpion.

Are you ready?

I'm ready as I'm going to be.

Here we go.

One, two-- here we go--

three.

Ow!

Yeah.

I'll get into this container.

Good job.

I saw that.

Ah!

Ah!

Just a little nick on the finger.

Ha.

Did you see that, though? Yeah, I saw him.

He whacked your finger.

Oh, man!

Ah.

What's it feel like?

Like a bee sting, actually.

Was it instant?

Yeah, I was pretty--

like, the stinger I could feel it go, boop,

right up underneath my skin.

See if it drew blood.

No, it didn't draw blood.

Mmm.

It hurts though.

Definitely hurts.

Tingling.

It's kind of like a--

like a bunch of little pins and needles going into my finger.

Ah.

Ah.

Ah!

Shake it off!

Round one.

Round one.

Well, it's not that bad.

As compared to a bullet ant or a tarantula hawk,

that was honestly nothing.

That did feel almost just like a bee sting.

Honestly, maybe not even as bad as a bee sting.

Ah.

OK.

OK.

All right.

Ready for round two?

Respect, Mr. Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion.

Respect is what you get.

So now that you remember what it feels like--

you've been through the bullet ant,

you've been through the velvet ant, all these things.

What's that like now?

Scorpion not nearly

as bad as some of the other things

that I have been stung by.

But again, remember, oftentimes with larger pedipalps

it means less venom potency.

The striped tail scorpion, small pedipalps, powerful sting.

Are you ready?

I'm going to go ahead and get stripe

tail out of the container here.

This is one frisky little arachnid.

It's so tiny!

Got you.

Look, it is just chomping onto the forceps

with those pedipalps.

And you've never been stung by one of these.

So this is-- this is a first.

This is going to be a first, yes.

Two stings.

One night.

It's hard to hold the forceps now with my finger.

My finger hurts.

All right, I'm Coyote Petersen, and I'm

about to enter the sting zone again, this time

with a stripe tail scorpion.

Are you ready?

Whew.

One, two, three.

Ow!

Whoa! Hold that.

He's right there. Let me get him.

Ah!

Oh, yeah, he got me!

Did you see that?

Yeah.

Ah.

Oh, right there on the side of my finger.

Ah.

It's turning read a little bit.

Oh!

Ah, yeah, that one hurts more.

Ah, ha ha.

Is it like a burning?

Mmm!

Ah.

Tell us what's happening.

Burns a little bit worse than the giant desert

hairy scorpion.

Ah!

Ah.

Yeah.

Right there.

You see right there on the side of my finger?

You see that?

A little red spot.

Just barely, that little red spot.

Ah.

That's a slightly softer part of the finger, too.

Oh!

Wowzer!

Knocked the GoPro off. - I did.

Didn't I?

Ouch!

Yeah, I, like, jolted the table.

That one actually gave me more of a jolt than the giant desert

hairy scorpion.

Oh!

Wow, that, like, shot me backwards.

Did you see that?

Yeah.

That was-- that was a sharp little, whing!

Ow!

It didn't look like he was

going to sting you at first.

His-- his stinger stayed out, and then all of a sudden,

at the very last second, whack!

It was delayed, that's for sure.

Man!

My finger's burning.

You OK? - Yeah.

Everybody always-- everybody always bashes

me for asking you if you're OK.

I always worried about you. - I know.

You're always, are you OK? No, I'm OK.

I'm definitely OK.

What's funny is that my-- my finger that

was stung by the giant desert hairy scorpion

does not hurt anymore.

All the pain's in this hand.

Now, this definitely hurts worse.

Striped tail scorpion, without question,

is a more painful sting than the giant desert hairy scorpion.

Ow!

All right, let's bring hairy back up into the scene here.

All right.

You guys did awesome!

You both successfully stung my hands.

Exactly what we wanted to happen.

And actually, it's only my hand that

was stung by the stripe tail scorpion

that still hurts at this point.

So what we have learned is that oftentimes it is the smaller

pedipalps and the smaller scorpion that has the more

potent and more painful venom.

I'm Coyote Petersen.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Ow!

My finger still hurts.