Worst animal bite or sting

Nature Talk
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There are claims that the bullet ant is meant to be one of the worst. Though after having a couple stings at different locations in Peru (Once when I got caught in a sudden storm, and had to crawl through broken bamboo to get back, and another when moth sheeting), I was generally underwhelmed. Like it was pretty good, but compared to eating something like carolina reaper mash, dunno. Like it stung for a day, and was itchy for several more.

On a spot basis, I feel the stings I had in the same regions from Apoica (Night flying paper wasps) stung a lot more, but also tended to go away a lot quicker (Like within the hour).

That time about seven years back I accidently slid over a european/german ground wasp nest when sliding down a bank https://i.imgur.com/UG3Tgid.jpg (Warning topless male shot). Was concerning since many of them went up my top, and didnt seem happy about it. Because I was about 2 hours into a 5 hours drive, I was quite cautious the rest of the way, in case my body decided to over react. Luckily it wasnt too bad.

About 11 years ago, I accidently crashed my car through a farm fence post, when I had a blow out on gravel. I reported it to the farmer, and got a dog bite (The farmer wasnt home). That took a bit of flesh, but wasnt too bad.

The only snakes I have been biten by are a eastern king, and a milk snake, both were fine. The only spiders are a whitetail and a uliodon. Both were fine.

I am not the biggest fan of being covered in leeches. Had that a few times, the bite dosent hurt, but the bleeding for a couple hours is tedious.

I often work with https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/65734464westland petrels. Mostly juves, which dont bite much. But helping in the colony, the adults really can. One day, I failed to ā€œcontrol the headā€ whilst my colleague was doing measure meants, and it managed to latch onto my nipple through my tee. That wasnt great.

When it comes to pain, I feel this plant is worse than most stings I have had, including the bullet ant/wasps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_ferox

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yeah bro has caught everything

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23

I have been bitten by a Crotaphytus and it drew blood, but an alligator lizard (Elgaria) was more painful because it pinched down on my finger like a clamp and would not let go for a while. Alligator lizards are well named.

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Iā€™ve heard the gympie-gympie also causes the same pain all over again if the affected area comes in contact with water - is this true?

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Yep. I think itā€™s the temperature change that triggers it so putting my hand in cold water or warm water to wash dishes triggered it again but also going out into particularly cold or hot air

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Iā€™ve been stung by a few bees, but they werenā€™t that bad. Honestly, the back-swimmer bugs in the genus Notonecta would probably be the worst thing that has bitten me.

I have also been pinched by a few crayfish, but they arenā€™t that bad.

Besides that, when I was maybe ~12 years old, a rooster we had would often chase me and claw/peck at me. I ended up with scratches and gouges all over my legs!

Honestly, though, the worst injuries Iā€™ve experienced were the ones resulting in me being careless around inanimate objectsā€“ unsanded wood and a handsaw :|

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Of course :)

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I thankfully havenā€™t had any bad experiences with any animals recently aside from being harassed by territorial horse flies. Although a couple of years ago I had a pretty bad reaction from getting a handful of stinging nettle. Over a day of red swollen hands that were numb and when I would touch something there was a sharp burning pain.

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This was our worst one, too. Got barbed trying to take it off the hook while fishing. Didnā€™t know any better so went home and iced the painful sting. It wasnā€™t getting better and so called the hospital. They said, ā€œJust apply a warm compress and youā€™ll be fineā€”just donā€™t ice it!ā€

The ice trapped the venom and we fished one-armed for two more days by tucking the reel under the numb arm.

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I was helping count eggs in Canada Goose nests and one of the adults got me with a wing right on the shin. It really hurt and was bruised for weeks. A photo of his first attack is below. He missed that time.

https://inaturalist.ca/observations/15381781

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Iā€™ve managed not to get seriously bitten or stung by anything so far. I got a honeybee in my shoe once and it stung me, but fortunately it somehow kept its stinger and that didnā€™t wind up stuck in me, so the sting wasnā€™t as bad as it could have been.
Probably my worst was when I picked up a Man oā€™ War on a shovel and the wind flung one of the tentacles into my arm. It only clipped me with about half an inch worth of tentacle, but the sting still hurt for a good few hours.
Iā€™ve also been bitten by a water boatman bug, which I think was about the same as the Man oā€™ War? Itā€™s been years, I donā€™t remember too clearly and I am not intended to go test it.
Oh, and a blue crab pinched me pretty good once. It got the tip of its claw right into the little gap where the side of my thumbnail meets the skin, which hurt a really startling amount for the half-second before I shook my hand on reflex and flung it off.
And one time I gave myself a tiny little chemical burn blister with a mountain laurel seed. I learned that you can rub one on a rough surface like a sidewalk, then touch the rubbed area to someoneā€™s skin, to make a sensation thatā€™s almost like touching both poles of a D battery. Itā€™s impressively like something electrical, and I was so interested by the feeling that I held it against my arm for way too long and burnt myself. But that was entirely voluntary and expected pain that I could stop when I wanted, which makes it way less distressing than something else.

Iā€™ve also been bitten by a couple of baby rat snakes, which are kind of the opposite; their teeth are so small that the bite doesnā€™t even really register as pain at all, just a fast sensation of some kind.

Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll manage something bad sooner or later. Iā€™m just hoping it isnā€™t anything medically significant, because I do live in the territory of some fairly dangerous snakes. Iā€™d like to see a wild rattlesnake, but I would very much like not to see it as itā€™s biting me.

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32

Those sound like some pretty nasty circumstances to me; man of war stings HURT! And Iā€™ve never even been bitten by a snake, so I donā€™t know about that. But Iā€™ve been bitten by water boatmen too; they werenā€™t that bad in my opinion, man of war was definitely worse! But maybe they are just worse where you live as compared to where I live.

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33

I have gotten stung by dasymutila (velvet ant) species and when I was later told they were one of the most painful insects I was surprised because to me it wasnā€™t that bad

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I think usually when people are stung by a oā€™ war, they get hit by the entirety of one tentacle, or parts of several. I only had a half-inch or so of one tentacle hit my arm. Itā€™s been solidly over a decade since then, so Iā€™ve lost most of the detail, but I do remember not being that upset.
(then again, for health-related reasons I wonā€™t get into here, I might have an unusually high pain tolerance.)

As for the snakes, they were babies with tiny-tiny baby teeth. They couldnā€™t even leave pinpricks- I imagine getting lightly stabbed with the very tip of an insulin needle might be similar. I have to admit I am a bit curious what an actual (non-venomous!) snakebite would be like, but not quiiite curious enough to go find out on purpose.

@dgwdoesthings my understanding is that, though some of the velvet ants do have very painful stings, some others have much milder stings. People do also react differently to venom depending on the individual.

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A box crab got me as a child and I still remember the pain quite vividly. I donā€™t think Iā€™ve been trapped in a large crabā€™s claw since.

And rockfish spines hurt a LOT when you find them by accident, especially when they decide to thrash around and dart away after :roll_eyes:

Not a bite, but I got hit by a free-roaming peacock wing at the Toronto Zoo so hard it bruised my leg, haha. It had approached our group from behind and I didnā€™t know it was beside us.

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My most painful relationship with the Animalia has long been with the Hymenoptera, beginning with many bee stings while examining flowers, as a child, in my familyā€™s garden. However, Iā€™d have to rate my worst animal bites as being ones from ticks, which have transmitted Lyme disease, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis to me.

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I was stung too, when I was little and wearing sandals outside in the grass by a lake for some reason (Donā€™t ask me why, I donā€™t do it anymore!), and it crawled over my foot and bit me, and I learned to be careful around them after that; no idea what kind it was because I was probably around 4.

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Yeah, that might be it. I was stung by a lot, all over my hands and wrists, because I didnā€™t know what they were and was picking them all upā€¦they were literally strewn across the beach! And I have very low pain tolerance, so that might explain why it hurt less for you as well.

Iā€™m amazed at this, I donā€™t think I would ever want to get bitten by a snake; in fact, I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever really thought about it :)

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It depends on the snake. Most of the time itā€™s like tiny thorns scratching you but itā€™s not too bad. Watersnakes hurt tho. And if you get bit, you will bleed. A crap load. And you will get bit. Iā€™ve learned from experience.

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Oh okay; Iā€™ll do my best not step on those!

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