It's coronavirus time, which means everyone's
locked indoors. Sick and tired of quarantine, you decide to
go where you can't possibly infect, or be infected, by the virus- nature! Except maybe all this time indoors has made
you forget one crucial fact: nature sucks and really wants to kill you. Don’t worry, Infographics is here to remind
you of all the reasons man invented apartment buildings and Netflix, with some of the most
venomous bites and stings in the world. Warning: some of these entries contain images
that may be difficult to stomach. Black Widow Spider Scarlet Johannson notwithstanding, black widow
bites are pretty terrible affairs. These spiders can be identified by the red
hourglass-like coloring on the abdomen set against a black body, and they inhabit every
continent on earth except Antarctica. With venom as much as 15 times as potent as
a rattlesnake, these tiny eight-legged horrors can cause anything from moderate discomfort
to death, depending on how sensitive the person is to the venom- luckily they discharge far
less venom than a rattlesnake per bite, or else they'd surely be exponentially more deadly. So what delights are in store for you after
getting a lovebite from everyone’s second-favorite Black Widow? Within fifteen minutes you'll start feeling
cramps in the area where you were bitten, as your nervous system fires off random signals
uncontrollably. Within the first hour, your body will begin
to experience powerful muscle spasms as the venom goes all 2007 Britney Spears on your
neurotransmitters (animators: show a Britney Spears with shaved head smashing human cells
to pieces). Now the pain begins to become acute, and good
news for all you wannabe-heart throbs, because your abdomen will become rock-hard as the
muscles cramp. The venom isn't trying to give you a sweet
beach bod though, instead the alpha-latrotoxin and accompanying cocktail of chemicals is
busy trying to kill as many of your nerve endings as possible. Remember, this is a spider that kills by paralyzing
its prey. Luckily for most of you, you're too big for
the venom to completely shut down your nervous system. Unluckily for you, things are still going
to be very, very painful. After about 3 hours your cramps will become
acute, leading to extreme pain. You may be looking for painkillers at this
point, but because of the effect of narcotics on the body, doctors likely won't prescribe
them for fear of helping the venom shut down your breathing. Your skin will get clammy and your blood pressure
drop, which will lead to mild delirium and mental confusion. Pregnant women will likely go into labor at
this point. As you move into day 2 of your ordeal, and
assuming you haven't died yet, symptoms will start to fade, though you can look forward
to large amounts of swelling in the affected area for several more days. Black widows may be painful, but they don’t
even hold a candle to our next entry on this list. Irukandji Jellyfish
Jellyfish are simple creatures. They have almost no measurable intelligence,
and their entire hunting strategy consists of floating around aimlessly
The Irukandji takes everything that’s awful about jellyfish and cranks it up to eleven. Jellyfish are notoriously difficult to see
and avoid already, and the Irukandji doubled down on that and became even smaller and more
difficult to see. The bell is only about 5 to 25 millimeters
(.20 inch to .98 inch) wide, but the tentacles can extend up to a meter (3.3 feet) in length. While other jellyfish only have stingers on
the tentacles, the Irukandji was kind enough to line even its bell with stingers, you know,
so there’s absolutely no chance of avoiding getting stung if you run into one. Despite its tiny size, Irukandji jellyfish
pack one of the biggest venomous wallops in the world, and is generally accepted as being
the most painful sting in mother nature. The initial sting is only mildly painful,
and leads most swimmers to believe they ran into a common jellyfish. However, within minutes as the venom circulates
through the body, the real nightmare begins. Painful muscle cramps first hit the arms and
legs, which can lead to drowning. As the venom makes its way to the organs,
the kidneys pulsate with pain akin to that of a kidney stone, while the back begins to
spasm. Waves of fiery pain course through the body
as nausea, headaches, uncontrolled sweating and vomiting kick in. The heart begins to race uncontrollably, leading
to serious problems for those with pre-existing heart conditions. Hospitalization is absolutely necessary for
an Irukandji sting, and even the most powerful narcotic painkillers have been widely reported
to be completely ineffective. Victims must simply ride out the pain as hospitals
try and make them as comfortable as possible. Perhaps the most terrifying part though is
the way the venom causes psychological feelings of doom and despair, leading to suicidal thoughts
and depression. At least Irukandji jellyfish have the decency
of trying to kill you- our next entry will leave holes in your body if it gets its fangs
inside you. Brown Recluse
Warning, this next entry contains some disturbing images. Spiders are basically the jellyfish of land-
they’re often extremely venomous, difficult to see, and there’s probably one working
its way up your pant leg right now but you probably think we’re kidding and you’re
just feeling a random tickle. If it’s a brown recluse on your leg though,
you’d better start making arrangements to get to the hospital. A bite from a brown recluse is typically painless,
though you’ll start to feel very tender around the bitten area within a few hours. The area will quickly become inflamed, with
burning pain setting in. If you’re lucky, this is as bad as it’ll
get- but most people are not lucky when it comes to brown recluse spiders. For the unlucky victims, necrosis will set
in around the affected area, as the venom destroys the surrounding tissues. Typically this begins with a very large blister,
then an ulcer will start to develop. Over the course of one or two weeks, the ulcer
grows by inches, and dead tissue begins to blacken and scab on the wound. Within three weeks the bite will finally begin
to heal, but can take up to 3 months to fully heal. Depending on the location you were bitten,
you may need skin grafts or full-on reconstructive surgery to recover from the massive tissue
death- and you’ll likely carry a significant scar or deformity for the rest of your life. Some victims may even need a limb amputation. Brown recluses only sting defensively, but
our next entry doesn’t just pack one of the most painful stings in the world, it can
fly and chase down its victims. Tarantula Hawk
No, it’s not a spider that can fly like a hawk- even that’s too terrifying for nature
to come up with. Instead, the tarantula hawk is a species of
wasp that lives to prey on spiders. If you live in the southern United States
or South and Central America, you’re smack-dab in this species’ habitat. Tarantula Hawks like to hunt down spiders
and inject them with venom that paralyzes them. The wasp then drags the spider into a hole
and plants its egg inside of it. The growing young promptly hatches and feeds
on the still-living spider, kind of like a really slow-acting xenomorph. In humans, the venom isn’t strong enough
to paralyze, but it’s more than enough to create one of the most painful experiences
of your life. American entomologist Justin Schmidt, who
has dedicated his life to the creation of the Schmidt sting pain index, has this to
say about the tarantula hawk’s sting: all you can do is lay down and scream. The good news is that the pain only lasts
for about 5 minutes, the bad news is that this will definitely be the most painful five
minutes of your life- other than the last time you tried to do something special in
the bedroom for your significant other only to be a complete disappointment. And that is an Infographics sting, with pain
that can last from minutes to a lifetime. Our next entry is not only so well camouflaged
that many people get stung by accident each year, but the pain of even a glancing sting
can last for years. Stonefish Its camouflage is almost perfect, and 13 deadly
spines line its body to ward off would-be predators. Unfortunately for humans, those same spines
routinely end up piercing the bottom of swimmers feet fairly regularly. For its victims, there's few experiences in
life more painful than getting stung by a stonefish. One swimmer stung by a stonefish in Australia
managed to accidentally nick one with a finger, and that was more than enough to bring on
a nightmare of pain that would last years. Stung on a finger, the pain was immediate
and intense, described as having a sledgehammer smash into each knuckle, the wrist, the elbow
and then up to the shoulder for an entire hour after the sting. After that, the venom went to work on the
kidneys, causing so much pain that the victim couldn’t stand or sit straight up, and was
forced to remain doubled over in crippling agony. For him, as with most victims, the pain would
take years to go away, with recurring kidney pain striking long after the initial sting. And that was just a glancing blow on a single
spine. Divers who have stepped onto a stonefish and
experienced several of the spines piercing their body have experienced pain so intense
they’ve begged for their limbs to be amputated. Now that’s just one more reason to leave
the ocean to the jellyfish in our opinion. Now go watch Scientists finally know why mosquitoes
bite some people more than others. Or click this video instead!
