Professional Crazy Person Gets Voluntarily Stung By A Bullet Ant, The World’s Most Painful Insect Sting

The host of the Brave Wilderness YouTube Channel/Show, Coyote Peterson, has made quite the name for himself over the past few years. He’s done this by volunteering to allow the most terrifying creatures in nature to sting him. If you’re looking to skip ahead in this video the sting itself occurs around the 10:25 mark.

In the latest episode of Brave Wilderness, Coyote Peterson’s traveled to the tropical rain forests of Eastern Costa Rica in search of the infamous Bullet Ant.

If you’re not familiar with the Bullet Ant then all you need to know is this tiny creature’s believed to have the most painful sting of any insect in the world. As the name implies, the pain from a Bullet Ant sting is so excruciating it’s akin to being shot by a gun. Furthermore, the crippling pain from a Bullet Ant sting lasts for 24-hours, leaving the victim incapacitated and writhing in pain the entire time.

RELATED: Crazy Dude Takes Sting From A ‘Cow Killer’, A Wasp With A Sting So Powerful It’s Said To Actually Kill Cows

This is a description of the ant’s sting according to Wikipedia, Paraponera clavata, aka the Bullet Ant:

The pain caused by this insect’s sting is purported to be greater than that of any other hymenopteran, and is ranked as the most painful according to the Schmidt sting pain index, given a “4+” rating, above the tarantula hawk wasp and, according to some victims, equal to being shot, hence the name of the insect. It is described as causing “waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours”.

Why anyone would ever voluntarily be stung by a Bullet Ant is beyond me. You are basically signing up to experience the worst pain imaginable. Why not just sign a waiver and let someone shoot you in the fatty part of your leg or arm? In that situation, you can at least tell people you’ve been shot by a gun. Coyote can’t lay stake to that claim, no, he has to tell people that he was once stung by a tiny ant with a sting so powerful it feels like being shot by a gun.

RELATED: Man Covered In Blood-Sucking Leeches Teaches You How To Survive A Leech Attack In The Wild (Warning: BLOOD)

I’ve spent fairly extensive time trudging around in the jungles of Costa Rica and Panama (months of my life), and I consider myself lucky that I’ve never encountered a series bite or sting from any highly venomous creature. I can’t really wrap my mind around someone crazy enough to do this for the sake of YouTube views. Coyote Peter’s truly dedicated to his audience, and we should all thank him by watching as he twists and writhes around in pain.

(h/t TastefullyOffensive)