Bullet Ants

            Pain, although no one really likes it, it is extremely important in keeping us alive and keeping us from having bruises and cuts all over the place. Pain lets us know what parts of our body our injured along with keeping us away from things that hurt us. It may seem like it would be pretty awesome to not feel pain, but without it, sores, broken bones, etc would affect our body and we wouldn't even know about it. Pain is what keeps us alive, without it, we could kill ourselves without knowing it in a few days. Although it’s extremely important to us, pain in bucket-loads can make us immobile and lose track of everything but pain. Bullet Ants use pain to keep predators away.

             Bullet ants live in Rain forest low land areas such as Nicaragua, Honduras, and Paraguay. They’re mostly found beneath trees, gathering food for the hive and protecting the queen. As long as you don’t bother them, trust me you don’t want to, they won’t bother you. If you are completely absent-minded and decided hey, YOLO, I’m going annoy these ants, then prepare your body for the worst pain in the world. This is not an understatement either.  Based on the Schmidt sting pain index, the Bullet Ant sting is the most painful in the world, above even the tarantula hawk wasp. The sting is not deadly but it can cause paralysis and shaking for a few days following the sting.  Along with it being the worst pain in the world, it doesn't stop. Some people have experienced pain lasting up to a full day.  Victims have described it as “Waves of excruciating pain” or it feels like getting shot, which is why it’s called the bullet ant. Here is an example of some of the pain and torture of the sting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it0V7xv9qu0).

           

What makes it so much more painful than other stings is the way it just messes with your entire central nervous system. Sodium ion channels get blocked, causing our body just to go on full panic mode and send tons of pain signals to the brain, making the fury and torture that bullet ants use to defend themselves.

            Fun Fact: Today, members of the manly and kind of insane Satere-Mawe tribe like to use this pain to prove how tough they are. They put on the gloves of death (stingers inside a pouch) just to feel the worst feeling in the world. Sounds like a fun and entertaining initiation for a Frat house.