All language subtitles for B.W.S04E12.The.Origin.of.Stings.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

I'm Coyote Peterson, welcome
to "The Desert Millipede Versus

The Desert Centipede."

COYOTE PETERSON
Venturing

into the nighttime desert is
not for the faint of heart,

as this cactus giant ecosystem
is laced with a plethora

of nocturnal predators.

Whether it be
scorpions, spiders--

That right there
is a black widow.

Solpugids or vinegaroons,

these arachnids are
certain to be on the prowl

as they used the
cover of darkness

to silently hunt for their prey.

Look at that, does that
thing not look like an alien?

All arachnids come
equipped with eight legs,

and most are also armed
with a set of fangs,

or a venom injecting stinger.

That is the most
venomous species

of scorpion in
the United States,

and he's on my hand, all right?

This makes me a
little bit nervous.

I want to see if I can
get him to just sit still.

However, if eight legs, fangs,

and stingers aren't enough
to scare you, Arizona Sonoran

Desert is also home to a
sub phylum of creatures

with even more legs.

The myriapods which consists
of centipedes and millipedes.

At the end of the day,
both of these animals

do their best to avoid humans.

However, today, we are going
to capture one of each,

so we can get them in
front of the cameras

for an up close comparison.

First, let's talk about
the desert millipede.

Now, millipede means 1,000 feet.

And each one of these
little body segments

has two pairs of legs on it.

Now, there's no
way that I'm going

to get underneath this
creature and count its legs,

but I can tell you from
it crawling across my arm

that there are a ton of
them tickling me right now.

It feels like a bunch of
little tiny pieces of velcro

grabbing onto your arm hairs.

Despite the name,

there isn't actually a species
in millipede on the planet

that has 1,000 feet.

On average, they have around
400, with the record being 750,

more than any other
animal in the world.

These myriapods have
very poor eyesight,

they have very
simple eyes up front.

So they're really using these
antenna to help them navigate

through the environment.

And you'll see as he dances
up in the air like that,

he's basically looking for what
his next move is going to be.

If he can't feel anything
with those antenna,

he's kind of like, whoa, whoa,
I've run out of road here.

And until he bumps into
something that he can walk on,

he's just going to
stay put until he can

get those front legs planted.

Now, the millipede doesn't
have many predators.

And that's because
these little myriapods

are actually poisonous.

They do have glands that run
along the side of their body

and if they are really,
really threatened

they will secrete a
nasty orange fluid,

and it absolutely stinks.

I actually got it all over
my hands the other night.

Now if you get this poison on
your skin all you need to do

is wash your hands with soap and
water and you'll be just fine.

Now, I'm completely
comfortable with millipedes

they don't bite.

If it doesn't bite, it can crawl
all over me all that it wants.

But the centipede is a
whole different ball game,

and we're going to get
that guy out in a second

and get a close look at that
venomous little desert dweller.

The desert millipede is

virtually harmless to humans.

And if you encounter
one in the wild,

just admire it from
a safe distance.

OK, now, we're on to
the part of the episode

that I have been
dreading, there is

no good way to do
this you just have

to plop them out and go for it.

All right here we go ready.

Oh boy, now he's kind of
like, oh I'm on the ground

and I'm on the move.

Desert centipedes can inflict a
very painful and venomous bite,

so I stress never
attempt what I am doing.

OK, there we go.

Now that I have his
head under control

and more importantly, those
fangs I feel a lot better

about this situation.

Oh, look at how creepy that
little desert creature is.

Now what's really interesting
is that the centipede

means 100 feet, each
species of centipede varies.

There's no way that
this one has 100 feet

but as they continue to
grow and their body segments

elongate, they grow more legs.

Now, one major difference
between the centipede

and the millipede is
that the centipede

has a very flattened body.

This allows them to fit
into crevices between rocks

and allows them to
glide very quickly

over the surface of the desert.

Now these are
voracious predators,

they are out here right
now walking the washes

and searching through the
rocks for other animals.

They will eat bugs,
they will eat scorpions,

they eat lizards,
and the ones that

grow to the size of the
giant desert centipede,

they will even take rodents.

But the bite from a
centipede of even this size

is going to put you into
some incredible pain.

That's why I want to be
as careful as possible

while handling this myriapod.

One really interesting
feature about all centipedes

is that-- you see the
back end here, this rump?

You have these two modified
legs on the back end here,

which have little hooks in them.

Now, this back end is
pretty much a false head.

It's the same color
as the head is.

And these two little
modified feet on the back end

here have hooks on them.

So let's say you're a
predator and you come in

and you're like, all right
I'm going to get him,

I'm going to bite
his head right off,

these little modified
feet go up in there pom

and you get pricked with
those little spikes,

throws you off guard, the
centipede spins around

and that's when you get a bite
from those venomous fangs.

This is not a creature that
is very easy to consume.

Centipede venom is not

considered deadly to humans.

However, the pain
has been said to keep

a full grown man on the ground
and in pain for several hours.

Moral of the story, steer
clear of centipedes.

I hope everybody
enjoyed this comparison,

the desert centipede versus
the desert millipede.

Both species are native
to the Sonoran Desert

and I suggest avoiding
both, because the centipede

is venomous and the
millipede is poisonous.

I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on
the next adventure.

COYOTE PETERSON
The sting

from that insect was
electric in nature

and it was probably
the worst five minutes

of my life at that point.

Yeah, that's exactly why I
call it electrifying and say,

you want to be Macho, I'm
tough I can overdo this,

no you can't.

So I tell people,
lay down and scream.

COYOTE PETERSON
People

often ask me, Coyote, how many
times have you been stung?

And my answer, when I look
back to the beginning,

from harvester
ants, to fire ants,

to honeybees, to the cow
killer tarantula hawk,

and bullet ants, many times.

In fact, well over 250 times

since my climb up the insect
sting pain index began.

However, while many people have
coined me the King of sting,

this incredible journey actually
began with a well choreographed

map, created by a man who
I consider to not only be

the true king but the actual
godfather of everything

that is insect stings,
Justin Schmidt.

A world renowned
entomologist and author,

he has documented the sting
pain of over 80 insect species.

And today, for the
first time ever, I'm

getting the chance to sit down
and talk with him face to face

about his climb up
the index, and how

our collective experiences have
helped bring a new fascination

to the world of bugs.

So this is the guy
who made the index.

This is it, he inspired
that climb all the way up

through the velvet ant,
the tarantula hawk,

and ultimately the bullet ants.

Oh, I don't know if
I'm more nervous now

than I ever have been to
meet somebody in my life,

you guys are ready?
I'm ready.

Let's do this.

All right, now here's
what's going to happen,

I'm going to knock on that
door, and either there's

going to be Justin
Schmidt inside

and we're going to
be talking bugs,

or there's going to be a
bunch of stinging insects

that come out, it's
going to be a big hoax.

Right?

I don't know.

I'm excited, nervous,
I don't know.

Oh, there he is.

Great.

The godfather himself.

I've seen you before.

Oh, and I have seen
you, read the book.

I know absolutely everything.

Here, let's move in, let
the camera crew come in.

This a new
there's a whole team here.

We've got an entire team today
filming a sort of documentary.

The more, the merrier.

This is-- hold on a second.

I got to just take a
360 here and absorb.

This is where it
all comes from, wow.

This is pretty cool.

Today's going to be
really interesting,

I'm going to be sitting
down with Justin,

to talk about our journey of
the insect sting pain index.

As you guys know,
all of my inspiration

has come from this
man right here,

we also have another
crew with us today that's

filming a separate documentary.

Say hi, guys.
- Hi.

Hello.

So we have all sorts
of cameras going today.

I don't know where this is
going to lead to, but it's going

to be exciting and there's--
- It's going to be fun.

- going to be so much
knowledge coming out of this.

I just can't wait to sit down
and pick your brain about what

has inspired you to
get stung by things,

because I know where my
inspiration came from,

but when you done.

What I'm saying
is I want to know

what inspired you, because you
know we have very different--

Right.

- attitudes, and
very different means.

So I think the
goals are the same.

Exactly.

And that's what's
so beautiful.

We're trying to stimulate an
interest in love of science

and biology and just life.

Yes.
- It's cool.

And bugs.

People are always so afraid
of bugs but they don't need

to be afraid of this pictures--
No, exactly.

- they're beautiful

and they're amazing.

You do such wonderful things
for the environment and the more

that we can educate
people about them--

Exactly.

- the better
off the world is going to be.

Ready to start
the conversation?

3, 2, 1, action.

All right guys well, this
has been a long time coming

my chance to actually sit
down with who I consider

the godfather of the insect
sting pain index, the one

and only Justin Schmidt, and
we are inside of his research

office/today. today What
we're going to do now

is just have a back
and forth conversation

about what this journey has
been like for both of us.

I mean, I think it's fair to
say that you've been stung

by more creatures than I have.

I've read your book,
and it's incredible.

And I actually--
to be honest I read

the book partway
through climbing

the insect sting pain index.

And I was turned on to
the sting of the wild

after I was actually stung by
harvester ants, which maybe is

a great place for us to
start considering we're here

in the Sonoran Desert,
which is the home of the one

and only harvest ran out,
you've been on the harvest.

Exactly.

And in fact, just like what
you said, the harvest is what

got the sting pain scale
going in the first place,

that I'd been stung by
honeybees, yellow jackets,

you know paper was.

Now, the normal
things in your backyard.

Yeah, and garden variety
stuff that you get bitten

by various beetles and things.

I went down to Georgia, which
has the easternmost extension

of the harvest range.

I got stung by
one, I went, whoa.

Didn't
you see that coming, right?

This is different.

You know, I thought
I knew everything

there was about stinging
insects you know,

just as this dumb little kid.

Yeah.

Said, hey, wait a minute.

There's something
different going on here.

And that's what got me
doing the comparative,

is this unique to
harvesting ants

or are there others
that like that?

And it turns out while
the answer is, now we

know much later, it's unique.

Well, and for me where it
began you know without even

knowing about the
insect sting pain index,

we were here filming in
Arizona, and we were getting

ready to film in
my mom's backyard,

who lives right here in Tucson.

And she said, when you go out
there watch out for the harvest

and that's because I got stung
by one the other day and man

did give me a wall.

I was like--

I was like an ant gave you
a really painful sting.

So we went out we looked at this
you know mound in the gravel,

it's flat and you know you
got the hole and all the ants

pouring out where we're like,
well, let's find out how

painful that sting really is.

So we did a little
research and we were like,

OK well, no one's ever died from
being stung by her restraint,

but let's see what happens
when I take a bunch of stings.

So you know, just
kind of on a whim

I said, let's set up the cameras
and I put both of my hands

down in and before I knew
it just hundreds of ants

swarming my arms.

And I took around what
was like 50 or 60 stings.

Yeah.

60 stings from the harvester

ants and it was bad.

You probably
had the world record.

I don't know but it was--

Because most of us
give up after one sting.

Yeah, well, what
I tried to do was

last 60 seconds with my hands
in the nest of harvester ants.

Wow.

And I did actually
make it to 60 seconds.

And long story short, we ended
up releasing this episode,

we didn't know how the
audience would take it.

And all of a sudden
everybody starts

talking about Justin
Schmidt and the insects

sting pain and ants.
- Cool.

And are you going to
get stung by a bullet ant?

I said to myself, I don't
want one from a bullet ant.

Yeah.

It sounds like a bullet ant,

this sounds like--
You don't know.

- a made up creature, right?

You
don't want to know.

So I
looked up your work.

And lo and behold, I
find this picture of you

with an ant on your nose, an
ant the size of your thumb.

And I'm thinking
to myself, this has

got to be photoshopped, right?

So I dig a little deeper, and
sure enough the legend is true,

the bullet ant is real.

And that's when I
end up stumbling

upon your insect sting
pain index, which was just

this beautiful chart of all
these different bugs ranked

on a scale of 1 to 4, based
on least amount of pain

to worst amount of pain.

Exactly.

Right?

And so what inspires you?

I mean, I think it's clear
that we've established

that you've inspired
me, and we'll get

into more of that in a second.

But what would ever say
to you, let's go out

and just get stung
by things for fun?

Well, I didn't really want to
go out and get stung for fun.

I was this desperate
graduate student

trying to get a
thesis so I could

get out and get a real job,
you know, stop being a student

eventually.

And I realized that, oh,
we can measure toxicity,

how much killing
power something else,

but we can't measure pain.

Ouch.
That one hurts.

Ouch.

That one hurts.

That one over there
is ouch, but I

can't put that into
a computer program

mathematically and analyze
what it means for the insect.

So I said, ah, we
need a pain scale.

A computer can analyze
one, two, three, and four.

Mhm.

It can't analyze "ouch."

So I decided that I had
to make a pain scale.

The harvest ant, to cut
to the chase, was a three.

Mhm.

Honeybee is a two.

And I kind of tell
people that each number's

like 10 equivalents
of the number before,

so like 10 honey
bee stings would

equal one harvester ant sting.

Right.

10 harvester ant stings
would equal 1 bullet ant sting.

So you got six bullet
ants stings when you

plunged your hands into that--

Yeah.

- equivalent.

So that would be a four
and a half, I guess,

if you wanted to
extrapolate beyond four.

Yeah, it was extreme.

It certainly woke me up.

And I think what's interesting
is that you create this index

so that everybody out
there can understand

these insects a
little bit better

and then certainly respect
them on this scale of pain.

And for us, it's always
been about, you know,

let me put myself in the
guinea pig situation--

and we always encourage
people never to try this,

which, you know, I know you
always encourage as well.

Putting yourself into the
test field is one thing,

but you never know how
your body's going to react

to any of these venoms.

So as you started with
the harvester ants

and then you
started figuring out

some of these other
creatures, were you

ever nervous to take a
sting where you're like,

OK, what if this is
the one that sends me

into anaphylactic shock?

What kind of went
through your head

as you were getting to that?

Yeah, I never worried
about the medical aspects.

I actually didn't even
worry about the pain

because when you're in
the thick of the battle,

if you're focused on
something like pain,

you can't do the battle right.

Right.

And there's this wasp
nest up in the tree,

and I may never see
this wasp nest again.

I got to get this thing
because that's a data point,

and a data point's important.

There aren't very many
of them in my field.

I got 60.

That took 30 years
to get 60 or so.

Wow.

Or 80 I guess it is now.

But the other thing
that I kind of relied on

is, well, it's only 1% of people
that have an allergic reaction,

and only 1% of those that
have really dire reactions

where you're likely to die.

You just get skin reactions
and that sort of thing.

And I say, well, I'm
walking across the street.

I could get run over by
the bus or the truck.

That's probably as risky
as it is out there.

That's
what I always say.

Or actually, the other
things I worry about strangely

are mosquitoes.

The mosquitoes are
a really good thing

to mention, because one
thing that a lot of people

kind of don't understand
is there's a big difference

between a bite and a sting.

Now, a mosquito is a bite, and a
lot of what we have experienced

are stings.

Now, we know I've been bitten
by lots of other things

like snapping turtles and
alligators and whatnot,

but the sting is
something that's

very different because its venom
being injected into your body.

And I know for me,
specifically, probably

one of the scariest
instances I ever had,

which is something that's
lower down on the sting index

as a two, being
the honeybee, is I

was stung 30-plus
times in the face

by honeybees by
wearing a bee beard.

My face swelled up
like a giant potato.

And I've never been stung
by honeybees before.

So I was nervous that
my body would have

some sort of negative reaction.

And when people ask me, well,
what was the most painful

sting you've ever taken?

Of course it is the
bullet ant, but when--

exactly like you said, when
you've got multiple stings

in one region,
especially on your face,

that was a pretty painful day.

You can't see,
and your nose is dripping,

and your lips are swollen
up so you can't eat.

COYOTE PETERSON
Yep.

Yeah, yeah, honeybees
are, actually, I

consider the most dangerous
of the stinging insects

because there's so many of them.

Right.

I mean, you get a bullet ant,
there's maybe 2,000 or 3,000

of them in the biggest colony,
but you only get a couple

of dozen that come out.

And they can't fly.

That's a big difference
if they can fly.

You can run away from them.

So you can run away
pretty quickly and get

away from the bullet ants.

But you can't run away
from bees nearly as easily.

Right.

And, you know,
if you have 50,000, 60,000

of these things and
they're out to get you,

boy, that's a
really scary thing.

So in the line of
flying stinging insects,

or some that crawl
along the ground,

let's jump straight into the
tarantula hawk, another one

of the large, flying, stinging
creatures of our planet

that can be found here
in the Sonoran Desert.

For me, the tarantula hawk
almost put a line in the sand--

no pun intended-- when it came
to completing the sting index.

Because I will never
forget what it was like,

first of all, how
intimidating that creature

is to get that thing in
the entomology forceps.

And it looks like an alien.

And it's strong.

It is strong.

The wings are going and you
see that quarter-inch stinger

coming in and out
of that abdomen,

and that moment where
I'm like, all right,

I'm going to have to
place this on my forearm

and take this sting.

And when I finally worked
up the courage to do that,

the sting from that insect
was electric in nature.

I've been shocked
before by accidentally--

like taking a zap from like--

Oh,
yeah, we all have.

- an electrical cord.

This was that times 10, and
it put me on the ground.

My arm seized up from
muscle contraction.

And it was probably
the worst five minutes

of my life at that point.

Yeah, that's exactly why I
call it electrifying and say,

imagine you're walking
along in Arizona,

and there's a windstorm,
and the power line above

and telephone snaps the
wire and it hits you.

Of course, that
hasn't happened to me.

COYOTE PETERSON
Right.

But,
you know, that's

what you imagine it feels like.

It's just absolutely
electrifying.

I call it debilitating
because you want to be macho,

oh, I'm tough.

I can overdo this.

No, you can't.

So I tell people,
lay down and scream!

That's what I did.

And Mark would be
like, uh, you know,

his famous line, Coyote,
are you OK, are you OK?

And it was very hard to--

COYOTE PETERSON
- try

to compose myself to
be like, all right,

describe what's happening
to your body right now.

Because your mind goes into
this state that's just--

it's blank emptiness,
and all you can focus on

is the fact that
there's radiating

pain coming out of your arm.

And that's why
you scream because now you're

focusing on something else.

Yeah.

In addition to the
pain, you're focusing on--

but taking a
little bit of a juice--

That's a pretty
good impression.

That sounds pretty good.

- a little bit of the
juice off of the pain,

so maybe you can lower
it down to a three

for as long as you can yell.

Right.

And I can yell for a
pretty long time when

I'm stung by a tarantula hawk.

Well, for me, the tarantula
hawk, what was interesting as

compared to the velvet ant
is that it was five minutes

of intense pain and then
just like a light switch,

it turned off.

And I was like--

you could
actually breathe again.

Yeah.

And, you know, it's
important to know

that something like
a tarantula hawk

is not out there
trying to sting people.

They are actually very
peaceful creatures.

They are looking for nectar,
and unless you're a tarantula,

you really don't
have anything to fear

unless you're going
to go up and try

to catch one of these insects.

So I'd say your odds of being
stung by a tarantula hawk

are slim to none unless
you're really antagonizing it.

I don't know if
anybody has ever

been stung by one
except entomologists

trying to catch them.
- Right.

They get them in
the net-- this is

a powerful thing because
you know it's hard

to get it out of the net.
- Oh, yeah.

And you're trying
to get it out,

and, well, sooner or later,
you're going to make a mistake,

and that long stinger
isn't very forgiving.

Right.

Oh, and they're
incredibly agile too,

the way that they can
just swing their body

and tuck their abdomen under.

And before you know
it, they've grasped

on with those little hooked
legs and, boom, you get a sting.

Well, they're
grabbing tarantulas.

If you can grab a
tarantula, you can certainly

deal with an entomologist.

Absolutely.

Entomologists are much
simpler than a tarantula.

Mhm.

So what do
you think, Justin?

Do you think-- do you
feel like it's about

the same experience you had?

Well, I think the beauty
of what we're both doing

is we're trying to make
education, and knowledge,

and love for insects and life in
general as our ultimate goals,

that we want to inspire
people through entertainment.

And facts and entertainment
don't have to be in conflict.

Right.

They go together.

And I think we're both trying
to do this the same way.

Yeah,
I absolutely agree.

And it's a matter of
admiring these animals

from a respectful
distance in all instances.

And a lot of people ask me, why
are you stung by these things?

Why do you want to
go through this pain?

It's so that we can get an
education about these animals

so that we learn
about the science,

and so that people understand
that these creatures are not

out there to simply get you.

We put ourselves
into these positions

so that we can explain
to the audience what it's

like to go through this pain.

And when you see how bad It
is and you hear how bad it is,

hopefully you will
just say, OK, yep,

that's a bullet ant over there.

I'm going to zoom
in with my camera

and get a photo from here.

And you'll learn
about their biology

so that you don't get stung,
if you know they're biology.

Like, I can pick up a tarantula
hawk by letting it crawl on me

because I'm not threatening it.

If I come in and pick it up
like this, then I'll get stung.

Well, that's knowledge
of the biology.

Right.

Well, on behalf of myself, my
team, and everybody out there

watching, we have to say thank
you for creating the insect

sting pain index because
without the groundwork you laid,

we would not have the roadmap
to follow that ultimately led

to us creating all of
this wonderful edutainment

that now everybody knows
more about these insects,

how to approach
them in the wild,

safely respect them from a
distance, and then, of course,

just have a love for
these creatures that

are oftentimes misunderstood.

So, Justin, thank you
so much for inviting us

into your incredible
office today, for sharing

with us all this knowledge.

Of course, guys, make
sure to check out Justin's

book, "The Sting of the Wild."

It is absolutely fascinating.

The bullet ant chapter
is my favorite.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next location.

If you are looking

for an incredibly
fascinating book,

I highly recommend "The
Sting of the Wild,"

which chronicles
the best of Justin's

painful insect encounters.

In fact, I consider
my autographed copy

to be one of the most
treasured manuscripts I own.

Over the course of
my career, I have

met some captivating
individuals, yet

when it comes to
someone who can swap

sting stories and
the painful journey

that it took to chronicle
them, no one compares

to the godfather
of sting himself,

the one and only Justin Schmidt.