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Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the bite zone with the cow killer and the tarantula hawk. Here is the phrase: "The table is set. " Exactly 10 years ago, we released the most epic and viral video The bite of the "cow killer" that led to the rapid rise of the Brave Wilderness channel. And to celebrate 10 years of enjoying bite content. For some reason this morning I will allow myself to be stung by both a "cow killer" and a tarantula hawk, one after the other, in the same hand. Who wakes up on a morning like this and says to themselves: you know what? This is my day. Here we have a "cow killer."
Technically known as the velvet ant, it is a species of wingless wasp that is famous for having the longest sting on the planet. This specimen is much larger than the one that stung me 10 years ago. And to my right is the one and only, world-famous spider wasp, the tarantula hawk. when it comes to the psychology of what I've been through in the last 10 years. I've been stung by everything from them to killer hornets, bullet ants, and I've stuck my hand in a box of yellow wasps, which is still the most painful experience of my life. But today I feel a little less nervous than I did 10 years ago. Because the first time I was stung by a tarantula hawk, I was scared to death, no doubt about it.
I had no idea how my body would react. The same can be said about the "cow killer." Keep in mind that I have an EpiPen. And I have to say, if there was a moment when I thought, "Oh, something could go catastrophically wrong. We might need that EpiPen." I would say it will probably be this time. So, hold on tighter. I'll put that aside. I have an insect net for when we move on to the tarantula hawk. I carefully move it to the side because the last thing we want is for me to scream in pain, swipe it off the table, and it toss away. on that little chair. And here he is. My old enemy is the " cow killer." An absolutely beautiful insect. Now let's do it. I'll just let it out of the container and let it crawl onto my
hand. That's it, honey. Today I feel much calmer around this insect than I did 10 years ago. They are simply wonderful. People are often stung when these insects are in the grass or on the sand. You are walking barefoot. You step on them, and they have an extremely hard exoskeleton. This exoskeleton protects their insides, and it is very strong. I would say, hard as a peanut shell. So if you step on such an insect, you won't crush it, but on the contrary, you will irritate it, and it will sting. Now we won't let you crawl up my arm until you get stung. I'll put it back. Actually, I wonder if I can take it like this. Oho. Over the years, I think I've learned to deal with insects a little better. Wow, look at that sting.
I'll turn it around like this for your camera, okay? God, this is just incredible. As we know, the stinger is a modified ovipositor, and I hold it just perfectly. So, I think let's get straight to the point. You know what I'm going to say. I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the "cow killer" regret zone. Let's go. One, two, three. No. But right there. Oh, I hear you squeaking. Are you going to sting? The sting is so long. It has to be at exactly the right angle to pierce the skin. And I remember the first time I was stung. Oho. It was like a bolt of lightning from nowhere. Okay, let me step back here. Are you okay? What do you feel? Oh, wow. Okay, we won't get a bite, friends. I'm sorry to say this. It doesn't sting. Don't want to
get stung? No bite. Let's try this. You know what? Not all velvet ants are the same. This ant doesn't sting. Oh, now you've got me. This worked. OK. No. Stinged me on the finger. OK. I guess I should have kept it to the side. Oho. It hurts just as much as I remember. My God. Yes. This is, as I said, a lightning strike. Oh, I guess they should be picked up when they least expect it. Wow, that caught me off guard. Oh my God. Yes, right on the side of the finger, right here. AND!
Oh, just a little. Oh, and here's your forearm. You'll probably have to get bitten on the tip of your finger. Oh my God. This could be even worse than the first time. Oh. My God. This bakes just incredible. My God I was just about to say that I was hoping to get bitten by a tarantula hawk, and I just got a full bite on the tip of my finger. Ai. Oh my God. Wow. It was like a thousand volts of electricity hitting my finger out of nowhere. Apparently, holding an ant by the side of its body is what irritates it more than tweezers. Wow, that hurts. Oh.
Okay, I need to step away for a moment. My God. M. Oh my God, the tip of my finger is just throbbing. We need to think about it that way. You have more nerve endings on your fingertips. So that's where I got bitten. You can already see a apparently, that's how it happens. If you play with fire, you'll get burned. "The Cow Killer" definitely knows his stuff. Almost dizzy. Cow killer. Devil. So, okay, let me get my act together. Wow. Oh my God. My finger, my finger is just burning.
I'm not kidding at all now. My finger hurts terribly. This is madness. So, they say that the bite of the " cow killer" is so painful that it can kill a cow. Not to mention that cows have hooves, and if a cow stepped on a " cow killer," it would probably just crush it. But in this case, wow, that's a crazy pain. Couldn't get her to latch on and sting my forearm, but wow, she got my finger. You know what? He calms down a little. That's the thing. They are very impressive. But why does the " cow killer" only rank third on the pain index for insect bites
? Because the pain is intense right from the start. Honestly, that's how it is, I almost feel it like a volume control going up. 14, 11, 9, and I would say, at this point for my stamina, it's probably about seven. It's still felt. Still noticeable. Not as bad as I remember that incident. Okay, let's move on. You come back here. That's it. OK. Good. We're picking up a tarantula. I'm going to put her here. Oh my God. Without a doubt, in my opinion, the most fearsome wasp in the Western Hemisphere. the largest species of road wasp in the United States. And we know that females are larger than males.
It is the females that sting. Females paralyze the tarantula, drag it into a burrow and lay an egg on it. When the egg hatches, the tarantula is still alive and in a state of paralysis. And this little larva burrows into the tarantula and eats it from the inside. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a real horror movie. And this morning we're going to double the horror, because I'm going from a bite on this finger to a bite on this hand. It didn't turn out exactly as we planned, but hey, that happens. So what I'm going to do is the hardest part. You need to keep it perfect. It's a little easier with tarantula hawks because they're so big, but because of the wings, we definitely don't want to do any harm to the insect.
That's right. Oh my God. This is a real nightmare. Look at the size of this wasp. Now I have it perfectly positioned, which will give us a chance to get a real bite. A full-fledged injection of poison. 10 years later. I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the sting zone with a tarantula hawk. One, two, Now, before I take this next bite, I want to answer a question I am often asked. Coyote, where do you get the inspiration to let yourself be bitten and stung by creepy creatures? Honestly, it's a lot more than just bites and stings.
It's about a general curiosity about the natural world. When I was a child, I loved to learn. I loved to tinker. And, most importantly, I loved building things. I vividly remember one early Christmas in the 80s when I opened a box and inside were wooden planks with a dinosaur skeleton inside. I pulled out the bones, assembled the dinosaur, and boom-it was my first tyrannosaurus. This instilled in me a love of dinosaurs and animals, which brings me to the story of today's sponsor, Kiwi Co. They sent me a few different sets. And while they're a little simpler than the ones I'd play with right now, they're perfect if your kids want to learn more about the natural world.
I especially liked the veterinarian set. I remember playing vet with my stuffed animals as a child, and now there's a set that lets you learn about the tools vets use to care for animals. I like that Kiwi Co. combines science, engineering, and art in a way that is accessible and truly memorable. If you or someone you know is looking for a STEM-themed gift this holiday season, Kiwi Co is the place to go. Follow the link in my description and use my code for 50% off your first box. A huge thank you to Kiwi Co for sponsoring this adventure. And now back to the episode. I get a lot of little injections. I need it to Oh, that hurts. This hurts.
Okay, the sting seems to be almost entirely in my hand. No, I only get micro-injections. Wait. We need better, too, and it has difficulty anchoring. It just doesn't sting. We're having bad luck with the stinging insects this morning. Look at all these microneedling injections I got. The difference between a micro-sting and a full-blown bite is that she can't stick the stinger all the way into my arm. She attacks the tweezers. OK. I don't want to stress her out too much. We just can't do it. We can't do it. We are not getting the result we were hoping for. You can't force an insect beyond its strength. This is madness. So what happened? You can
see all these little blisters on my arm. These are microinjections. What is the difference between a micro-injection and a full bite? Micropuncture is when they feel the surface with their ovipositor, looking for a place to latch on and deliver a decisive blow. Unfortunately, I only got a bunch of little micro-injections. Place of poison. I would say I probably got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 micro bites.
It's still wild. And it actually doesn't hurt that much. This hand might just die. Maybe, dude. My hand.I can't even tell you guys how surprised I am that my hand.I don't actually even feel any pain. Dude. That is, if you look at it, it looks painful. This is not true. So, let's think about it this way. If this entire dose of venom were distributed throughout this area from these micro-injections of the sting, this road wasp, if it wanted to sting for real, would have to feel a serious threat, right? And I think she was more angry at the tweezers than at my hand. So she kept bending her belly, trying to get the tweezers out, but she didn't actually sting my hand, she just made a "thump-thump
" sound, like acupuncture from a road wasp or something. And while it's probably easy for me to sit here and say that my pain threshold has reached a point where the venom of a road wasp or a velvet ant no longer affects me as much as it used to, I'm actually a little puzzled that I feel almost no pain in this arm. And it's possible that the strength of the venom of this particular road wasp is simply not equal to the one I suffered from 10 years ago. Because I'll tell you guys, without a doubt, that flash of pain I felt from that road wasp was intense and knocked me off my feet. The same can be said about the cow killer ant. But the most important thing here is that we don't want to burden the insects more than they have already given us. So
to keep trying again and again to get a bite-I don't like that. With this episode, I really wanted to celebrate the fact that it's been 10 years since these two insects made Brave Wilderness famous. And whether it's a cow killer ant, a road wasp, a bullet ant, or a giant hornet, even an executioner wasp, you guys love watching sting content on Brave Wilderness. And while we will continue to do select bite-sized episodes, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for all of you who watch us. We love animals. We love the fact that these creatures have been able to provide us with so much entertainment and educational information. And that was the main goal of Brave Wilderness. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. See you in the next adventure. I
put up my other hand for comparison. This is just wild. I wear sunglasses at night.
