The Tarantula Hawk Wasp is one of the gnarliest insects on the planet.
It hunts freakin’ tarantula’s. It stings the spider, which paralyzes it, and then lays an egg on its abdomen. The Tarantula Hawk then buries its victim in a specially prepared brooding nest so when the eggs hatch, they have a nice meal awaiting them.
Aside from being the essence of evil, the Tarantula Hawk also boasts the second most painful sting known to man. One researcher described the pain as “…immediate, excruciating, unrelenting pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except scream. Mental discipline simply does not work in these situations.”
In terms of scale, the wasp’s sting is rated near the top of the Schmidt sting pain index, second only to that of the bullet ant, and is described by Schmidt as “blinding, fierce, and shockingly electric”.
The Schmidt sting pain index is a pain scale rating the relative pain caused by different hymenopteran stings. “Hymenopteran” refers to the third-largest order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 species are recognized, with many more remaining to be described.
So what does it feel like to be stung by a Tarantula Hawk?
On a recent episode of, “Breaking Trail“, show host ‘Coyote’ takes one hard in the name of education!
This is like ‘Jackass’ for scientists…
In all fairness… the Wild Boyz pioneered the science of learning about animals and then getting stung by them for your entertainment…
