Days of Summer and the King of Sting

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Ahhh…the days of summer.

It’s the first days of summer, so what better subject than bugs. But not just any bugs, these are the ones that sting you.

The ones that you accidentally stumble across, drop everything, and run like hell!

I am sure everybody has their favorite story.

“Well, let me tell ya sonny, I was mowing the lawn and suddenly I was surrounded by 10 yellow jackets so I start a whooping and a holler’n…

“I was just helping your Mother with moving a box outside and suddenly a swarm of ants started climbing my arm…..”

As far as sting pain goes, those ants and wasps are amateur, lame, and pitiful!

There IS a scale of measurement for the pain of stings. Created by entomologist, Justin Schmidt, it’s naturally called the Schmidt Sting Index. Justin went all around the world allowing himself to be stung to create this index. Now that is a person dedicated to his work!

Some stings on the Schmidt Index are honeybees, rated at 1. A YellowJacket wasp maybe rates a 2.

But by far and away, The King of Sting, the Master of Disaster, the Bane of Pain, is the Bullet Ant.

How does it rate on the Schmidt Sting Index? It is beyond the top of the scale. 4+

Presently, there is some confusion about the “Bullet Ant” and how it got it’s descriptive name. Some people state that the “Bullet Ant” is so named because the sting is as painful as being shot by a bullet.

Others state that it was first named the “Bullet ant” by a person who was stung by the Bullet ant and eventually shot himself in the leg to take his mind off the pain of the sting on his arm.

When Justin Schmidt allowed himself to be stung by the Bullet ant for his index, he described it as “fire-walking over charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel.”

Others have described it as an “out of body experience” type pain that is continuous for 24 hours, producing temporary insanity.

There is an Amazon tribe, the Satere-Mawe, that use the Bullet ant as a ritual to Manhood. Bullet ants are put into a glove and the glove must be worn without showing pain or unconsciousness.

Well, at least they put the glove on their hand. The other way would really test their “Manhood”

Many thanks to Pirata.com, and Session Magazine .  While there is some confusion as to the origin of the photos I will attribute the photographer Jasper NanceMichael J. Scott, Publisher

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13 years ago

I’m sorry but the bullet ant photos that you stole from me are not licensed to you. Please credit me AND link the photos back to flickr where you took them without permission or remove them.

Jasper Nance AKA Nebarnix

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nebarnix/2721237128/

Reply to  Jasper Nance
13 years ago

You are mistaken. These photos were taken from Session magazine.

13 years ago

When you’ve sorted a wasps nest out in your loft and got many stings in the fortunately successful attempt not even a ‘bullet ant’ what ever that is will hold any fear.

Slightly bizarrely, I felt sorry for the wasps as I sprayed them with this wasp killer spray.

I have no idea what use wasps are but, killing them in droves made me sad…as they stung me in desperation.

I had several ‘sting lumps’ and they were dead.

What a sad world it is eh?

13 years ago

I understand the boy and his parents are proper liberals so I’m holding off on dismissing them completely.

13 years ago

What a small world we live in. Justin Schmidt is my daughter’s fiance’s dad.

I’ve yet to meet him. He sounds nuts. His boy isn’t good enough for my daughter either. Neither is Prince William.

Take that 4D.

Reply to  Truth101
13 years ago

Wow! Truth, it is a small world. I wonder if she got taken all over the world by her Dad on his bug sting expeditions.

I may be reading between the lines or just imagining things, but you sound protective of your daughter. 🙂

osori
Reply to  Truth101
13 years ago

ain’t nobody good enough for my babies.

13 years ago

There are loads of red ants in my yard. Ants are troubling. Fer sure.

osori
13 years ago

Bullet ants.One more thing I hope to avoid in life.I wonder why this guy would have such powerful poison? maybe to keep predators away rather than as a weapon? They’re probably female, I imagine. Since most of the warrior red ants are female, whereas the guys have wings and are kinda wimpy.At least that’s the way I remember when reading about them as a kid.

Reply to  osori
13 years ago

Just what kind of kid’s books did you read OSO that has these monsters in them? 🙂

13 years ago

Down here in the southeast we have a trillion Fire ants per square yard, they have been know to kill people or put them in the ICU. The bite blisters after about 12 hours and they itch like crazy, annoying but not really painful. No Bullet ants for me thank you.

Jess
Reply to  Holte Ender
13 years ago

I am like that with mosquito bites after a few minutes being bitten. I got one recently on the side of my eye, and I swear it looked like I had gone through several rounds with Tyson when it swelled up. I think it’s called cellulitis that happens to my skin. I get big old red welts that are itchy as all get out, till they go to bruising.

Reply to  Holte Ender
13 years ago

Holte,
We supply some instrumentation for states in the south like Texas and Louisiana. The stainless boxes they are put in outdoors ALWAYS have to be completely air tight.

For some reason, fire ants are attracted to AC power. They will go through the wiring conduit and completely fill up the box with a fire ant colony in just a few months if you don’t.

Several people have been seriously injured by opening a box up and thousands of fire ants spill out on them like some bad B movie. Ugggghhhh!

Jess
13 years ago

Ouch. I have to carry an Epi Pen for allergies to bee stings. Wonder if there is something like that for these, like there is when you get a snake bite.

Reply to  Jess
13 years ago

If I was in the middle of the Amazon Jungle and got stung by a couple of these monsters, I think a couple of cyanide pills would be just the ticket.

Jess
Reply to  Krell
13 years ago

How would you get the ants to eat that though :)? It’s hard enough trying to pop pills into a cat, never mind a teeny tiny destructive ant.

Reply to  Jess
13 years ago

Funny! I immediately had a visual in my mind of trying to hold the ant down while getting it to swallow the pill.

I think I would rather try to brush a piranha’s teeth with extra whitening Crest.

Reply to  Jess
13 years ago

Tell the ants it was a test of their manhood (anthood?) whether they could bite into the pills.

13 years ago

Ah, the eternal war between humanity and buggery. I’d want 4X-strength bug spray if I were going up against these critters.

On second thought, a jar or two of them might have proven handy back when I had noisy neighbors (they left their windows open a lot).

Well, at least they put the glove on their hand. The other way would really test their “Manhood”

I suspect any tribes who did “test their manhood” in the fashion implied would have severely undermined their ability to reproduce themselves, and thus would not have existed long enough to be observed by anthropologists.

Reply to  Infidel753
13 years ago

Infidel, let me tell you. If I had to test my manhood that way…I think I would say “Do you have that dress in a size 18?”

13 years ago

The bullet ant’s bite is so powerful that if it bites an object that is too hard to break, the ant will be flung into the air from the force of its jaws. (from Wikipedia)

What a loathsome creature.

Reply to  Mother Hen
13 years ago

Those hell jaws is not what delivers the poison. The poison is delivered the old fashioned wasp stinger way.

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