Tuesday, February 26, 2008

top 10 -- most painful bites according to victims

I was just on Fark to see if there's anythigns interesting and strange going on lately. I ran across an article about the most painful bites.

So here is a list of the top 10 most painful bites...according to victims.



The Gila Moster, which ecologist for the USGS Cecil Schwalbe says, "My finger was on fire, the wave of fire moved slowly up my body. Within five minutes I turned pasty green and went into shock. … I had pain in my kidneys, blood in my urine. … All of my sphincters in my body were trying to relax. It was on my finger for two minutes and it bit me five times — every bite went right to the bone."






Next, the Black Widow Spider. In one case where a man was bitten he said "It hurts too much to breathe." And after that he just stopped. That really shows how painful it must be if, it hurts so much that you are willing to just give up the ghost.





Now, the Stonefish. An anonymous victim described the experience. "I got spiked on the finger by a stonefish in Australia … never mind a bee sting. … Imagine having each knuckle, then the wrist, elbow and shoulder being hit in turn with a sledgehammer over the course of about an hour. Then about an hour later imagine taking a real kicking to both kidneys for about 45 minutes so that you couldn't stand or straighten up. I was late 20s, pretty fit physically and this was the tiniest of nicks. Got sensation back in my finger after a few days but had recurrent kidney pains periodically for several years afterwards."





The Tarantula Hawk Wasp. Like most wasps and bee's these don't go out of their way to sting people. But, "When that one when it hits you, it almost feels like you've been hit by a lightning bolt," said Schmidt. "You'll be screaming and writhing in agony. … It feels like every gland in your body is purged of all its hormones, you'll feel absolutely drained from the experience."




And now, the Spitting Cobra. The Spitting Cobra's vemon doesn't actualy sting until it gets into your eyes. Van Wallach knows what that's like, "It is excruciating. "The only way I could relieve it was to pour milk into my eye about every 15 minutes. I was blind for about four to six hours."





Scorpions! Dr. Leslie Boyer, who is medical director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center says it will, "send shooting sensations up your arm. You just give it a tap and you're screaming in pain. Just that one little spot hurts like heck, it radiates up to your arm pit with this throbbing pain — but there's nothing to see."




They say that Stingrays killed Steve Irwin, but I actually went swimming with them at sealive park. Regardless, they made it onto the list. Jon Hoech, director of husbandry operations at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Said that "It's extremely painful, like getting punctured with an eight-penny nail. Also, it's like a cat scratch, it can carry a lot of bacteria."






Rattlesnakes and their relatives are next. Kelly Zamudio of Cornell University says, "It feels like burning, like you're being branded, but the brand never lifts." The only thing that I have to say to that is, if it hurts so much why do we brand animals? It's just cruel.






Next up, the Box Jellyfish. There is no quote on the pain level, but it is apparently nothing compaired to our next contender, the Bullet Ant.






The Bullet Ant scores highest on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which was devised by entimologist Jason Schmidt. His description of the pain (just to note, my favorite description of them all) is that it is, "Pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch rusty nail in your heel."





Now all I have to say it...ouch.
To read more about the creatures and about why their bites sting so much, there is a link above.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Man I feel sore just from reading them... The descriptions are a bit poetic though o_O

Anonymous said...

Haha, incredible how these small critters can cause so much pain. That stonefish freaks me out O.o

Anonymous said...

My kids really enjoyed your article. We looked up "Stonefish" because of a description on Survivorman.

Anonymous said...

The list is incomplete and more could be added. The Scolopendra Centipedes Weeverfish Cone Snails Duckbill Platypus Tarantulas from the genus Poecilotheria Stromatopelma Haplopelma Selenocosmia Pterinochilus Assassin Bugs Giant Water Bugs venomous caterpillars etc all have agonizingly painful venom. Its a scary world.

Anonymous said...

The Orange Baboon Tarantula of Africa has a bite so painful its said to be worse than giving childbirth and worse than a Rattlesnake bite. Its been described ad having a hot electric iron on ones body or being set on fire. The Indian Ornamental Tarantulas also cause horrific pain described as being sizzled in hot grease and described as having a nail plunged into ones body. These are scary animals.