Original subtitles

Hold on.

Oh, it's flying. Hold on.

It's going back towards the nest.

Oh, no. Wait, wait, wait.

Don't move.

Oh.

Did you get it? - Yes!

Yes!

I'm Coyote Petersen.

And I'm about to enter the sting zone with the yellow jacket.

Here we go.

Today, we are headed out

into the suburban wilds of Westerville, Ohio,

to search for any species of paper wasp, which can be

carefully caught and ultimately used to give

me a good series of stings.

Welcome to another day in the office for Coyote Peterson.

Coyote, are we doing what I think we're doing today?

Oh, yes.

Today is Yellow Jacket day.

Now, you guys may remember a little episode

called The Bullet Ant Challenge where

I was stung by a bullet ant.

And then a subsequent video called Bullet and Kryptonite

where I used a product called Sting-Kill to help alleviate

the pain and the itching.

Now, Sting-Kill absolutely loved that video.

And then they came to us and said,

we'd love to work with you guys and do a sponsor video,

but let's get you stung by something

a little more commonplace.

You know, not many people are running into bullet ants.

So they said, what if you get stung by yellow jackets?

Now, we all know that yellow jackets can be found

at your local park, maybe you see them in your backyard,

sometimes they even get into the house.

We know they're angry.

We know they're aggressive.

And people are often stung every single summer.

So what we're going to do today is actually build a bug vacuum.

A bug what?

A bug vacuum.

Bear with me here for a second.

So you see this?

I found this online, right?

Looks pretty cool.

Right.

The Extreme Bug Vac.

But unfortunately, I have one opened up here.

This is supposed to have a lot of suction.

Mark, put your hand out.

Yeah, no.

I'm pretty sure that's not going to catch us any hornets,

but what I love about this is the plastic capsule.

Check that out.

It's got this little revolving door.

And you are supposed to be able to suck a bug in there,

close it up, look at it through the magnifying glass and then,

of course, it's got a little screen

so that the insect can breathe.

What I want to do is actually take this capsule

from the bug vacuum and MacGyver something with a real vacuum.

Check out that suction.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Suction power there.

Oh, yeah.

That's going to catch a hornet.

But what I need to do is reconstruct this where I'm

going to actually cut the hose and duct

tape the capsule in between.

Then I'll be able to use this end with the nozzle, which

has great suction power, and then I

think we're going to be ready to go out and start searching

for some yellow jackets.

Oh, I almost forgot.

I am going to mount the GoPro on it as well.

So where are we today?

We're in Ohio, right?

We are in Ohio.

We're actually right in my backyard

here in Westerville, Ohio.

And I actually put in a phone call and email

to a number of my different friends in the area.

And I said, go out this morning and look around

near the eaves of your house.

You know, like where the gutter attaches to the roof?

And let me know if you see any wasp

nests, hornet nests, yellow jacket nests.

Anything that looks like a stinging insect, let me know,

and we may come and investigate it.

So we're going to kind of go on a little bit

of a field trip today, guys.

Until we can find ourselves some good stinging bugs.

Are we testing it out?

Yeah.

Yep.

I think it's going to work.

Last step.

Now, it's like a proton pack.

Oh, yeah.

This thing is awesome.

All right, well, if you guys are ready,

let's go try to catch some yellow jackets.

Let's do it.

Woo!

All right, well, we might as well check

the park that we started at.

Great structures here for us to investigate.

You see all these eaves and overhangs,

perfect place for paper wasps.

Now, why do paper wasps like these underhangs here?

Well, because it's a great spot

to build a nest that's out of the realm

of predators and the rain.

Let's see.

There are eight known species

of wasps that call Ohio home.

And many of them can be encountered

right in your own backyard.

However, unless they are intentionally, or accidentally

provoked, your odds of being stung are actually very slim.

Let's go this way.

Come on, Mario.

Well, it's a fun day at the park.

Yeah.

On the weekend.

Should've brought a soccer ball.

Did you see something fly out?

I did.

I think it was a honeybee then.

Now, honeybees, you oftentimes see on clover.

Let me see.

There's one right there.

Look, look, look, look, look.

That's a honeybee. European honeybee.

Yeah.

Now, that is not what we're after.

Honeybees actually have fur all over their bodies,

whereas yellow jackets are completely bald.

Bees also have barbs on their stingers.

So when you get stung by a bee, its stinger gets removed.

You get stung by a yellow jacket, no barbs.

So it can sting you over and over and over.

If I was looking for honeybees, we'd be in the right spot.

But unfortunately, yellow jackets

do not pollinate clover.

All right, let's keep looking.

So why are we looking at the ground now?

I thought we were looking up.

That's a good question, actually.

Oh.

It could be perfect.

I see some ants in there.

A lot of times, yellow jackets will actually

build their nests underground.

So if you see something that looks like a mole hole,

just respect it from a safe distance

because it's possible that yellow jackets

have built a nest in there.

A cavity in a tree like this is also fair game,

but there's nothing in this tree.

I'm not sure we're going to find anything in this park, guys.

Might be time to take a road trip.

Let's see where else we can look for yellow jackets.

You ready?

The bug suckers are hitting the road.

Oh, yeah.

Well, it is 12:43, which means it's officially lunchtime,

and we have a new plan.

Now, searching for the yellow jackets

ourselves is not exactly panning out very well.

We found some nests that were vacant.

We found some honeybees and some bumblebees,

but we haven't found the infamous yellow jacket.

But what we're going to do--

bear with me here for a second, is actually have a picnic.

Because oftentimes, if think about it,

yellow jackets show up when you're at a picnic.

So I'm thinking if we get some soda pops and some ice cream,

we hang out in the sun, maybe these stinging insects

will come to us and we will then be able to use the bug sucker

5000 to just sit there and go

and suck them up. Give me this.

I'm going to go look in the garbage can right now

and see if there are any hornets.

Guys, we're really looking hard for these hornets,

but, you know what?

They empty their trash a lot.

Check this out.

There's like nothing in there.

Can't exactly find hornets if there isn't

a bunch of sticky stuff around.

What Mario did was he put--

look at that.

Ice cream in the grass on top of a lid.

Maybe that will bring in the hornets, and the

yellow jackets, and the wasps.

I don't know.

I guess we'll see what happens.

Mmm.

Pretty good, huh, Mario?

Mm.

I'm enjoying mine.

It's a beautiful day for a picnic.

We'll see you in a bit.

All right, bye. No yellow jackets, though.

Guys.

What's up?

We might be in business.

I just got off the phone with my friend Jasper.

And I know at the beginning of the video,

I kind of made a joke and said, hey, I sent an email, a text,

to my friends that live in the area,

and I told them to go outside and check

around their houses to see if any yellow jackets were

hanging out.

Sure enough, my friend Jasper went out,

and he said, right on his back patio there's a little nest

and there are three yellow jackets.

I said, you sure?

He said, well, they're yellow and they're black

and they look like they want to sting.

So I think we may actually be able to put the bug

sucker 5000 to the test.

You guys ready?

Let's do it.

And can we bring our treats with us?

Of course.

Let's catch some yellow jackets.

All right, guys, well, we are at Jasper's house.

Now, he has asked to not be on camera, because he's

not used to being on YouTube.

So you won't get to meet him today,

but he has given us permission to go out on his porch

and scout for these yellow jackets.

If they're there, we're going to use the bug sucker 5000

to catch them and then go to a controlled environment

so that we can get me stunt.

You guys ready? Sounds like a plan.

Let's do it.

Gear up, you guys.

Grab your other cameras, and we'll be ready to go.

You look happy.

You see that corner right there?

Uh-uh.

That is a small nest,

and there are two yellow jackets.

Now, Jasper has provided us with a step stool.

He was thinking ahead.

So I'm going to use this step stool

and get up close with the bug sucker 5000.

You guys ready?

We're going to have to do this quick, because I already

see that they are on the alert with their wings

kind of propped out, ready to swoop down and sting us.

So we really just have one shot at this.

OK.

So what I'm going to do--

I love my ghostbuster pack, but to really make this work,

I do have to take the bug sucker 5000 out.

The moment we've all been waiting for.

Let's put it this way, it's either going to work

or we're all going to get stung.

The best.

Did it work?

Got one of them in there.

There's still one on the nest.

Get the net. Get the net.

Get the net.

Oh, it's flying.

Hold on. Hold on.

It's going back towards the nest.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't move.

Did you get it?

Yes!

Yes!

Shut the door.

Shut the door.

It totally worked!

Look at that!

Totally caught the yellow jackets, both of them,

just like that.

Woo!

The bug sucker 5000 pays off.

Can you guys believe that?

Holy mackerel, we caught them.

Wow.

It was crazy.

The one was actually climbed onto this thing,

and I was like, oh-oh, we're going to get stung.

I was like, get the net! Get the net!

But then it went back up to the nest and, sure enough,

got it inside of the capsule.

It's all right, Coyote.

Now we have to go to where we're going to get you stung.

Not at Jasper's house.

Yeah, now we're going to go to a controlled situation

and we're going to get these yellow jackets out

of the little capsule and get me stung.

But what I'm going to do for transport

is not take this hose apart now.

I'm actually just going to place it inside of the bug net,

just in case they get out.

And just like that, we're ready to go.

Nice.

Awesome.

High fives, guys.

That's so cool that that worked.

That totally worked. Boom.

All right, guys.

And we're back.

Now, we do have the yellow jackets on hand.

But first, let's talk about the kit

that I have here on the table.

Now, as always, with these sting episodes.

I have my trusty entomology forceps here.

I'll be using this to actually hold

one of the Yellow Jackets against my arm

to induce a sting.

And just in case something goes horribly wrong,

as always, the epinephrine pen.

Now, do you think you're in the clear at this point?

You've been stung a bunch.

I have.

And you never know, every single insect sting is unique,

and you never know how your body will react.

Even a yellow jacket can force you into anaphylactic shock.

So always have this just as a safety precaution.

And, of course, the star of today's

episode, Sting-Kill, who proudly is sponsoring this episode.

And what we're going to do after I'm stung

is try both of these products on the sting

to make sure that it can relieve not

only the pain but also the itching that's

going to come after the fact.

You guys ready to see the yellow jackets?

Let's bring them out.

All right.

Well, they did transport safely inside of the net

and still inside of the little capsule.

Pretty happy they didn't escape in the car.

Yeah, that would have been a bad situation, wouldn't it?

All of us in the car and then yellow jackets flying around.

And sure enough, there they are, inside of the capsule.

Now, what I need to do is actually remove the hose

from the capsule so that we just have this individualized,

and then I can carefully get one of those yellow jackets out

of there.

Now, here's a really interesting little fact to remember.

All hornets are technically wasps,

but not all wasps are hornets.

How about that?

And anything that is black and yellow

is technically considered a yellow jacket.

So what do we have?

What did we find?

This, I believe, is what's called a European paper wasp,

but because it's yellow and black,

we're just generically calling it a yellow jacket.

And is this what we find at picnics?

Is this what's swarming us when we're trying to, like,

eat our ice cream?

No, that is usually a hornet.

Now, hornet has a much stockier-looking body,

a thicker abdomen and a narrower thorax,

but these ones look just like wasps.

You see the very pointy wings.

If you can kind of see there, you see where the thorax leads

into the abdomen right there?

It's very narrow and indicative of being an actual wasp.

But I think at this juncture what we're

ready to do is bring the bug net back into this,

place the capsule inside, and work

on getting one of these yellow jackets out of the container.

You ready for that?

So what's the process here?

You're going to let them go inside the net

and then grab them with the forceps?

Yeah. Here's what's going to happen.

So I'm going to place the capsule down inside of the net

like this, keep it contained.

I'm going to open the capsule, hopefully only let one of them

out, close it back up, remove the capsule

and then go in there with the entomology forceps

to pick it up, bring it out, and place it on my forearm.

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

zone with the yellow jacket.

Here we go.

1, [sigh] 2, 3.

Ow! Did you get there?

Got me there.

Yeah.

Get you good?

Yeah, got me twice.

Is that the worst one?

Yeah, that was the worst one so far.

Are you good?

Ah, he got the stinger, like,

all the way inserted into my arm.

Oh, my arm's starting to hurt a little bit.

Hold on. Let's do this.

You get back into the capsule.

[inaudible] back.

Yeah, there you have it.

You see all those welts?

I took several stings all right in that area.

And look at this, there's a lot of red coloration developing

right near the veins.

That is really interesting looking,

and it burns, and it's really warm.

Really warm right now.

I mean, honestly--

Yeah.

Yeah, it's hot to the touch, right?

Yeah, you can definitely feel the swelling.

Yeah.

Now, it was not nearly as painful

as any of the other stings I've gone through.

I was actually able to keep the yellow jacket on my arm

as it was inflicting stings.

It did get me one time pretty good right at the end there

and I had to let it go.

Of course, we got it safely back into the capsule.

As you can see there, there they both are.

They'll be released here shortly.

But what we want to do now is actually

use the Sting-Kill products to see if it will alleviate some

of the burning in my arm and, of course, the itching

that is almost certain to come if I don't

use the Sting-Kill ointment.

You guys ready for that? Let's do it.

OK.

Well, which one do you want?

Do you want the capsules, or do you want the--

probably just take both. Let's talk about both.

We're going to give a shot at both.

So this is the Sting-Kill wipe, right?

Oftentimes used for anything from a bee

sting or a wasp sting, even a mosquito bite,

even a jellyfish.

If you guys are on the beach and you're swimming,

you run into a jellyfish, this is perfect for that, right?

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to open this up.

I'll tell you what--

I keep myself pretty well composed in a lot of this.

But now that the pain's actually starting to set in my arm,

I do-- I get a little bit lightheaded.

So the Sting-Kill wipes have a maximum strength

mix of benzocaine and menthol.

And I actually really like these.

They're neon green.

Looks like Ninja Turtle mutagen. Check that out.

And woo!

That is a strong smell right there.

All right, I'm going to put that on the sting.

Are you ready?

Yeah, sure, go ahead.

Oh, wow.

It's cold.

The menthol definitely cools it immediately.

Yes.

Wow.

That really does have a pretty incredible cooling effect.

Now, similar to the bullet ant--

I mean, I was in a lot of pain after that, and it did help,

but of course, the bullet ant pain eventually did come back

and lasted for nearly 36 hours.

I'm hoping that this relieves much quicker.

Now, I do love the wipes, right?

And I carry the wipes in my pack, but this right here,

the Sting-Kill capsules-- Those.

I like those.

Yeah, these are my absolute favorite.

It's like-- OK, let me open one up here.

Now, they are individually wrapped.

See this?

Very cool.

And all you have to do is pop the back end out like that.

And inside here is a little glass

capsule within the plastic.

So all you have to do--

this is my favorite part, ready?

Shatter the glass on the inside.

And it has this little cotton swab.

It's strangely satisfying.

I know.

It's like, oh, here comes the ooze.

Yes!

Ah!

Oh, that is my favorite.

And that real thick serum right there is

literally instantaneous relief.

I personally love to just do this,

dab it right on the sting zone.

Woo!

And as you can see, there is more liquid

here than you get in the wipes.

So if you have a really bad sting,

or you're stung multiple times, I definitely

recommend going to the Sting-Kill capsules,

because as you can see, look how much of the ointment

is actually coming out there.

OK.

So once again, Sting-Kill saves the day.

Yes.

Sting-Kill has saved the day.

My arm feels a lot better.

In fact, there's also a little bit of a numbing agent here.

So I can't feel any of the pain at this point.

Ooh!

Arm is a little bit stiff, but hopefully this formula

will also reduce any potential itching that's going

to come down the road here.

Now, I know you're thinking to yourselves, Coyote,

those were simply yellow jackets,

and you've been stung by tarantula hawks and bullet ants

and hopefully soon the warrior wasp.

But keep in mind, guys, that the yellow jacket is something

that is right in your backyard.

It's something you can easily come across

and something that you definitely have the potential

of being stung by.

Now, if you are unfortunately stung,

remember, Sting-Kill is definitely

going to help you out when it comes to alleviating that pain

and any potential itching.

The rainforests of Costa Rica are

filled with beautiful animals.

However, sometimes the most stunning creatures

can also be the most dangerous.

Defensive appearances are everything

on the Osa Peninsula, whether it's

camouflage to keep you hidden.

Look at that gross bugger.

Ahh!

And I know everybody's watching me right now saying, Coyote,

you're going to get stung by the toe biter today?

Absolutely not.

- or bright colors

to warm predators that you would be one toxic treat,

it's all about survival of the best hidden or best dressed.

But what if you don't care to hide?

And what if you were not born with bright colors, but instead

one soft looking cuddly coat, which conceals beneath it

an armor of venomous spines?

Get ready to meet the furry puss caterpillar.

Holy cow, look at this.

Look at this caterpillar.

What are you looking at?

Whoa.

You don't know what that is, do you?

No. No, I wouldn't touch that.

This is what the locals call a fire caterpillar.

You sure that's a caterpillar?

Oh, yeah. Watch out.

I'm going to bend this branch down because I don't

want him to fall on my face.

I would be in pain for hours.

Look at that.

It looks like a mustache.

I don't exactly know the proper name for this caterpillar.

This caterpillar

has many nicknames.

On the Osa Peninsula, it's known as the fire caterpillar.

However, it's more commonly called the furry puss

caterpillar because it so closely

resembles a fuzzy kitty cat.

In the world of science, this is actually

a flannel moth caterpillar.

But don't let their adorable and cuddly looks fool you,

this fuzzy puss is covered in urticating hairs.

And if you're unfortunate enough to make skin contact,

these hairs can be extremely irritating.

What's even worse is that just below

the hairs are venomous spines.

Get a handful of those, and for nearly 12 hours

you will be in excruciating pain.

I'm pretty sure that the little bristles

that will do you damage are on the other side of this fur.

Let me take a look in there.

Oh, boy.

Can you see that?

Oh, yeah.

Look at that.

Those are what dig into your skin.

And you go to pet it, and you're like, ahh!

Your hand is on fire.

And actually, I think I got a couple

of them that touched my finger because my finger's starting

to itch.

I'm sure you guys are thinking, oh,

come on, Coyote, just touch it.

No, no, no, no, no.

My hand will feel like it is on fire.

Now, it's tough to tell which end of this guy is the head.

I'm going to go ahead and guess that this end is the head,

because as you can see, he's eaten

a hole right through that leaf.

And we've caught this caterpillar

right in the middle of dinner.

And I'm sorry that I had to bug you in the middle of dinner,

Mr. Caterpillar, but you were just far

too bizarre looking for us to not

get in front of the cameras.

All right, let's see if we can get

this fuzzy little caterpillar to show us his underside.

Check this out.

Watch this. Look at that.

He's dancing.

I just want to get him off the leaf.

Now, watch.

Look at that.

You see his underside?

Kind of gross.

Looks like a tremor, doesn't it?

See all those little legs?

Like suction cups, that allows him to move

up and down tree trunks.

And his mouth is on the end of his head,

and he gnaws away at the leaves.

Wow.

Just when I thought the rainforests of Costa Rica

couldn't get any more bizarre, we

come across this obscure-looking caterpillar,

somewhere between a sheepdog and a blond mustache.

I'm Coyote Petersen.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

These caterpillars

are venomous.

However, there are no reported cases of contact

that have resulted in death.

If you are ever stung, the best first aid

is a cold ice pack applied to the location of the sting.

And antihistamines can be administered to help

with the itching and burning.

All right, Donny.

We'll see you later, buddy.

Enjoy your leaf.

Lesson to be learned here.

If you see a caterpillar that looks soft and fuzzy,

do your absolute best to avoid cuddling with it.