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People ask me all the time, what place in the world has the most dangerous wildlife? And the answer to that question is always an easy response. Australia. Even after all of our trips to Australia, I'm able to share with you our most intense filming encounters rank from dangerous to absolutely lethal. And some of those encounters push my pain tolerance to the absolute limit. In fact, many of them could have ended very badly. Welcome to Brave Wilderness Wildfiles. Among the millions of insect species across the world, Australia's home to some of the most aggressive.
Across large parts of Eastern and Southern Australia, from forest trails to even backyards, there's a particular species of ant that looks absolutely menacing. And on one of my recent trips, we came across a massive hill that happened to be its home. This is an insect with one of the most painful stings on the entire continent, the bulldog ant. Its body is tall and muscular, carried high off the ground like it's ready to pounce. The head is oversized and angular, dominated by a long scissor-like mandible that remains open as it moves across the surface. And those jaws aren't just for show.
They are built for force and to tear. But their threat goes well beyond their menacing apearance for they actively pursue anything they perceive as a predator, which is exactly how they earned the name Bulldog Ant. When they do decide to attack you, it's not the bite from those huge mandibles you need to worry about. What you need to focus on is that venomous stinger, which is capable of striking multiple times. And when a bulldog ant stings you, the venom delivers instant and intense pain. So when the team and I discovered what we found out to be this massive bulldog ant nest, the next step was unavoidable. I had to put its infamous stinger to the test and find out where it ranked on the Brave Wilderness Bite Sting Index.
The BSI was created to compare bites and stings from insects and arachnits all over the world, combining the scores of intimidation, pain and aftermath into a final ranking. And of course, to accurately measure this ant's sting, there are no shortcuts. I had to summon the courage to offer up my forearm and let the attack happen. All right, here we go. Holy cow, she's looking at me. Oh my gosh. Look at that stinger go. I have a feeling this is going to hurt. On three, one, two, three. I remember the first instantaneous feeling of the pain.
Ah. It was just so fierce. Ah, it's really got its stinger in me. Ah. And immediate, it was like a white hot heat being mainlined into my forearm. Ah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And the aftermath was brutal. The days that followed, the discoloration, the severe itchiness. It was the real deal and I highly recommend you avoid these bulldog ants if you ever venture through Australia. But as brutal as the bulldog ant sting was, it still paled in comparison to the sting that I took from a very specific fish spine.
Along the shallow coastlines of Northern Australia in reef flats, tide pools and sandy shores, there's a fish that most people will never see until it's too late. With perfect camouflage and absolute stillness, this venomous animal blends seamlessly into the ocean floor. And while the team and I were venturing through some tide pools, we came across this creature, which is widely considered to be the most venomous fish on the planet. That is the stonefish. This fish's body looks a lot les like an animal and more like a piece of the marine environment itself that somehow learned to breathe.
There's no smooth symmetry to its shape. Every surface is irregular, warped, or broken up by ridges, bumps, and folds of skin. Hidden within its coral-like appearance are venomous neon blue dorsal spines. And if you're unfortunate enough to step on one, the venom can unleash extreme pain that lasts for hours or even days. What makes it especially dangerous is how it attacks the body on multiple fronts, disrupting the nervous system, destroying surrounding tissue and placing stress on the heart and vital organs. So when we came across this stonefish resting in the tide
pool, I didn't just want to show people what it looked like. I wanted to experience this notorious pain firsthand and show the world what the aftermath of this notorious fish sting was all about. This is going to likely be the worst sting that I ever take. All right, I'm going to go with this front spine here. Ready? This spine. On three, one, two, three. Ah. Mm. Yep. Mm. To this day, the sting from the stonefish was easily one of the most intense and scary stings I have ever put my body up against.
Oh, right there is where, where the spine went in. God. Immediate fire. Spreading up my fingers. I could already feel it in these, these three. And it was scary. I started to go into a panic attack. I had lasting nerve damage in my fingers and I started to have symptoms all throughout my body. I definitely believe the stonefish is the most venomous fish on the planet. I want to see how far the venom spreads before I start applying the first aid. Fortunately for me, stonefish venom is heat liable, meaning hot water immersion can help break down the protein that's in the venom and stops the damage in its tracks,
but none of it will stop the initial damage and the pain that it caused. And it was a good reminder why Australia is one of the most dangerous places in the world. You literally have to look everywhere you step. And the next creature we encountered carries a venom that doesn't even cause pain at all, but has the ability to shut your entire body down and stop you dead in your tracks. In tide pools along the eastern coastline of Australia, often just a short walk from busy beaches and coastal towns lives a small ocean predator that most folks don't even realize they're standing next to. And after searching these coastlines
for multiple years without success, on my fourth trip to Australia's tide pools, I finally encountered one of the most deadly and venomous creatures on the entire planet, the blue ring octopus. At first glance, this octopus doesn't look like a threat at all. Its body is tiny and compact, soft and unassuming and easily small enough to fit in the palm of a hand. But when disturbed, it flashes its warning sign, these vivid electric blue rings. A striking example of aposomatic coloration or a visual warning meant to tell predators that approaching any closer would result in a fatal mistake.
Inside the octopus resides a neurotoxin that is 1000 times more potent than cyanide. And what makes this animal especially dangerous is how the venom works. A single bite can shut down the nervous system and paralyze the muscles responsible for breathing, which eventually would cause respiratory failure often without causing any immediate pain to the bite site itself. In fact, many victims don't even realize they're bitten until the symptoms begin, which is especially alarming given the fact that there is currently no anti-venom available.
Oh my God. I got a blue ring guys. Got it. Oh my gosh. We got one. Holy cow. Let's talk about what we found. Right there in my hand is the most dangerous animal on the planet, at least when it comes to venom. And saying all that while holding the octopus in your hand. It's hard to remember the last time I was this nervous in the presence of an animal. All right, the time has come. I'm going to attempt to touch with my bare hand the blue ring octopus. On three, one, two, three.
That made me nervous. All right, lid back on. I don't think I was just bitten now, but I'm, I'm not completely sure. Watching a creature small enough to vanish, like literally disappear by slipping into the crevice of a rock, reminded me how dangerous and deceptive places like Australia can actually be. Because here, some of the most lethal animals don't rely upon brute strength or force. They rely upon silence, speed and paralyzing toxins. And the next creature we filmed in Australia doesn't just carry that level of danger.
It delivers the danger with bangs and it also happens to live in one of the most densely populated regions in the entire continent. In the suburbs and forests surrounding a certain populated city lives a spider that has shaped Australia's reputation for venom more than almost any other. While the team and I were filming around Sydney, carefully flipping logs and scanning the trees, we came across a spider that is capable of delivering one of the most dangerous bites on earth. A Sydney funnel web spider. At first glance, the spider looks built for power. Its body is glossy and jet black with legs that feel heavy rather than delicate, but the most striking feature are its fangs. When a funnel web spider rears up,
its fangs extend downward like curved daggers, long enough to puncture fingernails and penetrate shoes. In fact, their fangs are proportionally long enough that almost every snake species in all of Australia. And when the spider bites, it doesn't deliver a dry warning. Its venom is fast acting highly potent and uniquely dangerous to primates. Oh yeah, that includes human beings. And the reason is scientists still don't fully understand. Adult male funnel web spiders are significantly more toxic than females and are responsible for the most severe in venomations.
During certain times of year, mostly in the warmer months, when males are out in search of mates, bites become more likely as spiders move into garages and homes nearby. Before the antivenom was developed in the early 1980s, funnel web spider bites caused multiple fatalities, especially in children. But still to this day, each and every year, dozens of people require hospital treatment from their bites. But fatalities are now extremely rare due to rapid antivenom development. After finding a funnel web spider, we carefully coaxed it into a secure container. We then transported it to the Australian Reptile Park where funnel web venom is collected to produce life-saving antidenom.
The spider was gently teased until it reared back, exposing its massive fangs. And when it struck, tiny droplets of venom formed at the tips of the fangs where they were then collected using a small vacuum pipette. As soon as those spiders rear up into strike position, there's immediately a chill in the air. These are seriously, seriously strong spiders. And when they flick those fangs down at the pipette, you can actually hear it hitting the glass. In fact, they break the pipettes all the time. And from that little bit of antidenom, it takes hundreds of spiders to be milked over and over again to produce enough antidenom for all of Australia. That's a lot of spider milking.
This isn't a spider hiding deep in the wilderness. This is a creature that lives right alongside us in everyday life. And as unsettling as it is to realize how close this kind of venom exists to us, it's only one part of what makes this country so deadly. Because the next dangerous animal we encounter doesn't rely on venom at all. It relies on its strength, size, and absolute dominance. A lot of people assume Australia's most dangerous animals are spread evenly across the entire country, but that's not true at all.
Across the Northern Territory, Northern Queensland, and parts of Western Australia, there's an apex predator that completely rules these environments. To find this species, the team and I traveled to the Adelaide River where the water runs brown like a thick chocolate milk, making the visibility absolutely zero. In conditions like this, you never see one of these animals coming. That is until it's already too late. Locals call them salties, but you probably know them as the saltwater crocodile, and they are the largest living reptile on the planet.
Adult males can exceed 20 fee in length and weigh well over 2,000 pounds. They are built with thick armored plated skin, massive jaws, and tails powerful enough to launch their entire body out of water. Despite their name, saltwater crocodiles aren't limited to the ocean. They move freely between salt water and fresh water, traveling through rivers, coastal beaches, and far inland waterways, making them one of the most adaptable apex predators on our planet. And with that level of adaptability comes immense danger to human beings living in Australia. Salties are responsible for the majority of crocodile attacks worldwide. In Australia alone, dozens of ambushes have occurred over recent decades
with multiple fatalities. Usually it's when a person enters the crocodile's habitat unassumedly. To fully understand the power of these animals, we headed out onto the Adelaide River by boat. Like we said, the water was muddy and opaque with no visibility whatsoever. As our guy dangled fresh meat from a pole on the side of the boat, massive crocodiles mysteriously materialized from beneath the surface, launching straight up out of the water to snatch it. I'll never forget this one particular moment of that adventure where the captain told us, "Guys, don't lean too far over the edge of the boat because if you fall in, we will not be able to get you out
of the water fast enough before the crocodiles get you. " Seeing animals that big move that fast was shocking. And if that wasn't close enough, we visited Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin. Haven't done this before. Mario and I entered this clear acrylic enclosure that was lowered directly into the water coming face to face with a massive saltwater crocodile, easily over 15 feet in length. We're being lowered. All that's separating us in the croc is the cage of death.
Oh man. Did you feel that? Just totally thumped the death cage. That's a powerful animal. You can tell right there. That was crazy. Even after being face-to-face with the saltwater crocodile, I feel as long as you stay out of their range, you're relatively safe. These animals are terrifying, but they're confined to specific regions in Australia's far north. However, the most dangerous encounters we've had in Australia wasn't just with a single animal, it was with the entire group of them.
And they don't just live in one corner of the continent. Across nearly all of Australia, from the scorching outback deserts to farmland, and even to the suburbs of major cities, there is a group of animals that has adapted to all of it. They don't dominate with their size or strength like the salties. They dominate with their venom. This is a group of animals that triggers an instinctive fear, one that human beings have never been able to shake. From ancient myth to folklore to modern statistics, they've earned a reputation that spans nearly every continent on earth. But nowhere does the danger concentrate quite like it does in Australia. Because when it comes to venomous snakes, Australia takes it
to the highest level. One of the reasons they're so dangerous in Australia is that every venomous snake on the continent belongs to the same family, the lapids, whose venom is highly evolved and primarily neurotoxic, meaning it targets the nervous system, shutting down muscle control, breathing and vital organ function. These snakes evolved alongside fast-moving prey in open environments, so their venom has to work quickly. Another danger they exhibit is how quietly they can appear. Unlike rattlesnakes in the United States who use loud rattles to warn off a threat, allapids offer very little warning at all.
Typically, there's no prolonged buildup. There's no signal that danger is imminent. Usually it's just a rear up and a bite. Australia's home to three lapids, which happen to be the most venomous land snakes on earth, the inland type in, the coastal type in, and the eastern brown snake. While the inland typin holds the number one ranking for sheer toxicity, the snake that possesses the greatest real world danger is the eastern brown. Oh, here it is. This species causes more serious snake bites in Australia than any other, mainly due to its wide distribution and frequent encounters with people.
Each and every year, Australia records thousands of venomous snake bites. However, of all those bites, only one to three per year are fatal. To understand just how dangerous this group of animals venom truly is, the team and I visited the Australian Reptile Park, a facility responsible for producing anti-venom for the entire country. Once inside, we stepped into what felt like the most dangerous room on the planet. So you can see him a bit granky. He's not the happiest about this arrangement. These are very large lapids. We're talking some of these snakes were in excess of eight feet long and you could hear them hiss as they were darting across the floor.
The snake handlers that we worked with were so awesome they were able to quickly and carefully pin the snakes down, head the snake, and then take them over to those collection vials where they would then pop their fangs down and we could literally witness the flow of venom into those collection vials. It was wild. If you are bitten by a number of those species of snakes, you're going directly to the hospital and the outcome of which is never going to be guaranteed. These are the most deadly snakes on the planet. So there you have it. From massive ants to elapid snakes that contain the most toxic venom on the planet, Australia doesn't forgive mistakes, but it does reward those who understand risks.
For Brave Wilderness, Australia has to be one of the most painful, intense, but beautiful places we've ever filmed. And it's also been one of the most educational and I would go back in a heartbeat.
