People driven mad by the most painful animal stings coming from an exotic tree, grown men wanting to kill themselves rather than enduring another hour of the excruciating discomfort caused by a platypus, small caterpillars whose bite is so intense it actually destroys lives every year in the jungle regions. These are the experiences through which you can go unsuspecting them, a brief collection of the most agonizing stings known to us.

10. Bullet Ants

Several outstanding documentaries have presented Paraponera clavata, a creature also known as a conga ant, or more popularly, the bullet ant: this pest gets its typical name from people who have experienced the pain caused by it first-hand and who said that it is just like a gunshot injury. Ants and wasps are very closely related – both being members of the Hymenoptera family– and it is reasonable to think of bugs as wingless wasps. In the situation of the bullet ants, this evaluation is even more legitimate.

Bullet ants are found in South and Central America, where they build nests at the bottom of large plant trees that could house a large number of people. Other than their dimension – up to one inch long – they are similar to the other ants. They are hunters, returning the prey to their nests to nourish their younglings. Like many species, such as seeing beetles and butterflies, ants go through a complete transformation. This implies four phases: egg, pupa, larva and mature. You only see their adults since the other phases are protected and taken care of in the interior of their nests. Bullet ants, and almost all wildlife, want to remain alone. They do not go out searching for someone to hurt, and given a choice, they will usually get away from a conflict with a bigger creature by dashing away. But encounters with people, deliberate or not, do occur. And when they do, look out to avoid them.

9. Funnel Web Spiders

Many believe that spiders cannot sting (although they bite), but we cannot avoid mentioning this malicious little beast. It is the only spider in this top – not because some of these attacks are not serious, even deadly ones, but because most spider bites are not instantly painful. But the funnel web spiders from Australia are so highly effective, dangerous, and harmful that we knew it needed an addition here. Next to the gympie gympie plant and the sea wasps, this creature is another reason to be careful where you go if you reside in or visit the vast nation of Australia.

This species of spider is difficult to love. They are large – about the dimension of small mice – but compared with a tarantula, for example, they do not have shaggy fur or any similarity with cuddliness. They are dark creatures with a strong, almost muscled look to them, not to mention that they also are infamously difficult to eliminate. Funnel web spiders can left themselves on their back legs when they are about to strike, displaying their enormous fangs. They usually wander around in the evening and sometimes end up in footwear or under bed sheets – an unpleasant, sometimes critical shock for someone unfortunate enough to experience one. In fact, these small but ferocious creatures are about as near as you can get to your nightmares.

8. Platypus Males

Overall, the platypus is a very weird creature to tell the truth: it grows a webbed duck foot, a large duck nose, it lays eggs, so it is similar to a duck. It also has dense fur, nurses its offspring and is officially a mammal. Unusual, no question about it, and you probably already realized this. But did you know that its males also could cause one of the most excruciating stings of all species?

The male platypus has distinct spines under his fur on the rear legs, and those spines are filled with some of the most wicked venoms in ten world. The pain caused by platypus is very hard to describe and has been cases of men going mad. There are few creatures, and literally no mammals, that have this type of striking potential. Many inexperienced zoologists and travellers discovered first-hand about the pain caused by the platypus, when they wanted to catch a few.

Platypus venom is not similar to the toxins of spiders and snakes, which generally possess a necrotizing and flesh-killing element. Platypus venom is not developed to eliminate its victim – it is only intended to cause discomfort. The venom is created in a little glandular organ within the male’s upper back leg, and shot via a distinct, rounded spine. Opiates, such as morphine, seem to be ineffective against this intense pain caused by the platypus.

7. Cow Killers

These little demons are something like the lighter version of bullet ants – an ant-like pest with an intense sting. These cow killers are actually a variety of similar species, with most of them being members of the Mutillidae family. Cow killers and their close relatives are sometimes generally known as “velvet ants”, but these are not really ants – they are wasps, and only their female individuals are wingless. The darker-coloured males are simple to miss since they float just above the lawn, checking the ground for crickets, beetles and caterpillars that are part of their menu but, with their females, there is a different story. They are usually banded with bright red and scarlet; in the southern regions, there are varieties with glowing white-coloured “fur” that make these insects look like strolling balls of fluff. Be cautious, though, since these females all have one element in common – they hurt like hell when they sting.

Whether or not the pain caused by cow killers can kill cows is controversial, but if you ask a person who h had a bad encounter with their sting, they might have a very determined viewpoint. These animals are quite typical across the northern areas, where they occupy undercover burrows that they provide with the disabled prey that their offspring is eating. The strike is aimed to put its victim into a coma and from which it will never regain consciousness, this giving its larva a stable provision of clean, residing meals.

6. Gympie Gympie Trees

We already know about the infamous poison ivy, and many of us have experienced stinging nettles, a typical plant whose extremities are little spines which give a scratchy sensation. These annoyances are an aspect of any outside discovery, and almost every camping kid or passionate walker has a tale to tell about dealing with them. In the Australian forests, however, a tree makes other toxic vegetation look like some regular flowers.

Dendrocnide moroides, generally known as “gympie gympie tree”, features a sting so strong that there are legends of people killing themselves rather than suffering another minute from this horrible pain. Horses are too vulnerable to the harmful impact of the gympie gympie plant, and have been stories of these animals going crazy from the intense pain. Truly, this is a species that should not be screwed with.

Gympie gympie is, sadly, a very typical sight in areas of Australia. It can grow to a height of around 15 feet and is mostly among the first vegetation to spring up in the forests when a little shrub finds a spot of sunshine. Nothing about the overall look of the Gympie could tell you not to get near it – actually, it looks like almost all other little trees, mixing with the nearby plants of the exotic scenery. You could be enclosed by one of the most harmful species globally and never acknowledge it.

5. Blunt Nose Stingrays

This creature tracks its prey by evening in superficial waters off the shore between the American beaches. During the day, it can be found silently just under the outer lining area of the seabed. That is quite dangerous for people who are there strolling in the water. If an individual steps on one of these stingrays, its long tail moves around and pushes a 5” bony sharp tip into the person’s skin. The force of the stingray is so strong that the tip sometimes goes entirely into the human’s foot and comes out on the other part.

The scientific term of this creature is Dasyatis say. A few other related stingrays live in salty or fresh waters all over the globe, and all possess similar behaviour and stinging abilities. These creatures are not aggressive by nature, but they are fast and attack when walked on or bothered, and their sharp tail tip can easily go through leather and rubberized materials. Its venom, besides being extremely painful, has also a paralytic effect and can have an impact on respiration and heart functions. The strike can be deadly for some people.

4. Stonefish

These are little fish, members of the Synanceiidae family. They reside in warm waters all around the globe and prefer to sit at their bottom, looking a lot like a stone (hence the typical name). The fish has close-set sight and a slit mouth pointing up, so it can see the prey diving above. When little seafood or a crab walks by, the fish’s mouth is opened immediately, inhaling its unaware feed.

There is nothing bad about a fish sitting at the bottom of the water, looking like a common stone and consuming other smaller-sized seafood. This creature also has dorsal spines on the back, shaped like sharp needles, which point directly up when the animal is disrupted. Some of the most highly effective neurotoxins analyzed until now are packed into every one of its spines. If you step on a completely hidden fish, its spines will pierce your feet instantly. It is not unusual for this to occur – this species is the second-most generally furnished anti-venom in the Australian regions.

The venom has a light blue shade and is forced from the glands of the backbone into the blood vessels of its victims. One of the ingredients in the stonefish’ stings is known as stonustoxin, an element that can cause serious hypotension (or low blood pressure), a critical situation that can become life-threatening. The main indication of stonefish envenomation is intense, excruciating pain, immediately going into the limbs. Moreover, serious inflammation starts soon after the strike. The venom’s cytotoxic (or cell-destroying) qualities instantly become obvious as dying tissues soon encompass the sting. Loss of life can happen in a matter of hours.

3. Tarantulas Hawk

On the pain scale, the Tarantula Hawk is positioned on the highest levels among Northern American bugs. It is actually a big wasp that preys on larger victims. When it detects a possible prey, the tarantula hawk strikes with its claws, powerful mandibles and large dangerous stinger. Its stinger is loaded with some of the strongest paralyzing toxins in the animal kingdom. However, it does not kill the victims – it keeps them alive long enough for the insect’s larva to eat for its fat storing in the wasp’s subterranean nest.

The specialists have known for a long time the interesting explanations of the stings these wasps and bugs give to their unsuspecting victims. The information of the pain caused by the yellow jacket sound something like this: the discomfort of the stinging is “hot and blurry, almost irreverent. Think about a guy extinguishing a stogie in your mouth.” And that is just a 2 from four possible levels of pain. And think which insect earns a full 4 – that is right, a tarantula hawk. The biologists explain it here: “Blinding, like an electric discharge. An electrical device has been dropped into the bathtub full of water”.

One first-hand consideration of a tarantula hawk attack described it like an unbearably agonizing sensation, but short lived: after just 15 minutes, it had washed out to controllable levels of supportability. In comparison to some in this top, like an Irukandji jellyfish pain that can last for several weeks, that is fairly merciful.

The tarantula hawk is not very aggressive if unprovoked, but it will not think twice about striking if confronted by people.

2. Bark Scorpions

These are the strongest scorpions in Northern America, and their attacks are famous in the Southwest. In Arizona, there have been mainly plenty of stories of painful stings from this creature – there is a terrifying selection of first-hand recordings from individuals who attacked scorpions.

The bark scorpion is generally found near waterways, which are often the only places on the wasteland where plants grow with bugs near them, which the scorpions feed on, are discovered. However, because so many inhabitants water their grass in these regions, huge breakouts of the scorpions can happen in communities and around houses. These scorpions are training their instincts and following the wetness, and so is their food.

These creatures are part of the Centuroides genus, like several other varieties, with agonizing stingers. They are the only scorpions in the southwest that can go up on the plants, where they usually wait head-down to feed themselves.

The bark scorpions are the most venomous in the US. The toxins are delivered through needle-sharp, rounded stingers at the tip of the creature’s tail. Then, the scorpion holds its prey and looks for a place on the victim to deliver its deadly shot. A common principle with scorpions says that the smaller sized are the pickers, the deadlier is their venom. This might be because the animal does not need large pincers to keep its victims since the effect of the toxins immobilizes it in just a few moments.

1. Irukandji Jellyfish

People know that many jellyfish cause pain, and some species – box jellyfish, for instance – can actually kill an individual. You might have even found out about man-o-wars, an incredible jellyfish with tentacles that are 150 feet long, with their crest so large that it can be observed by mariners checking the shoreline’s skyline. These creatures wander into the sea, moving on tides and catching seafood with their long tentacles, which are covered with toxic tissues that give a harmful dose of venom to its prey.

However, the jellyfish causing the most severe pain of them all actually is not a massive animal. Two varieties, Malo king and Carukia barnesi, are both named Irukandji jellyfish (called this way after the communities that are along the Australia shore where these creatures are most common). These jellyfish are small, nearly unseen little blobs of cells that drift within the surf. Their transparent skin indicates that, unless you are really looking to find them, you will not even see them arriving – which is regrettable because the pain from such an animal is among the most agonizing in the whole nature.

The initial touch of the tentacles of an Irukandji causes recognizable but usually light pain. That is really nothing as opposed to the actual discomfort that sets in about 30 minutes later: the terrifying and sometimes deadly Irukandji syndrome.

Have you ever been stung by a bee, wasp, or other animal? How much did it hurt? Do let us know your sting stories in the comments below.