This May, I’ll be graduating from Harvey Mudd College with a degree in Mathematical and Computational Biology. My family is so excited for this moment that they have decided to take full advantage of Mudd’s open seating policy. Eight of my family members are traveling across the country just to celebrate with me. While my coming of age is marked by a speech, a diploma, and a small party, an indigenous group known as Sateré-Mawé takes on a unique approach involving bullet ants.
Drawing of a graduating ant.
The Sateré-Mawé tribe, located in the Amazonas and Pará states of Brazil, performs a ritual known as Waumat for young men. In this ceremony, the man coming of age inserts both of his hands into gloves lined with Paraponera clavata, a species of ants that are also known as bullet ants. While the ant bites we are used to are initially unnoticeable and mildly irritating, bullet ants deliver excruciating and long-lasting pain.
Bullet ants are native to Central and South America and are well-characterized by their aggression. The venom they release contains peptide toxins, compounds that influence how our brain receives pain signals. Specifically, these toxins bind to sodium channels on nerve cells. Under normal conditions, these sodium channels will open for a short period of time to induce pain when our bodies are harmed. This pain is to let us know that we are in a dangerous environment and should probably leave. However, the toxins bullet ants release keep the channels open for much longer, inducing an intensely painful experience that can last up to twelve hours. Venomous animals such as the scorpion species Androctonus australis alter sodium channels in a similar manner. Victims of bullet ants experience the following symptoms: swelling, trembling, temporary paralysis, increased heart rate, and swollen lymph nodes.
Despite this intense experience, Waumat is performed at least 20 times in a man’s lifetime. The men completing this ritual are the same men expected to protect the indigenous community from illegal loggers, land grabbers, and Brazil’s Amazon development plans. Therefore, Waumat is a test of endurance that promotes Sateré-Mawé culture while fighting for indigenous land.
The ritual begins with a group of villagers locating bullet ant nests near the bottom of trees. While playing flutes, the Sateré-Mawé gather the ants in the hollow end of a bamboo stick. The bullet ants are then transferred to a bucket of water with chopped cashew leaves; this mixture functions as a temporary anesthetic for thirty minutes. During this time, the ants are weaved into large natural fiber gloves with their mandibles directed inward. The Sateré-Mawé also decorate the gloves with red macaw feathers to symbolize the conflict their people have experienced and white hawk eagle feathers to symbolize the tribe’s courage. The man places his hands inside the gloves as the tribe sings and plays music. They specifically play songs that refer to moments in Sateré-Mawé history resisting colonial oppression. The tribe finds the pain subsides when the young man immerses himself into dance, and the ceremony continues into the night.
A Sateré-Mawé man wearing bullet ant gloves.
The Sateré-Mawé’s view of growing up is connected to their commitment to preserving identity and indigenous rights, even when the tradition involves hundreds of stinging ants. In May, I will be transitioning into my adulthood as well. My moment, though, will not involve any bullet ant gloves!
Media Credits:
[1]: Drawn by author.
[2]: Photo by Mongabay.
Further Reading:
Bandyopadhyay, Sucheta, Satyajit Mishra, and Jeet Kalia. “Peptide Toxins as Tools in Ion Channel Biology.” Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 84 (February 2025): 102568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2024.102568.
Israel, Mathilde R., Bryan Tay, Jennifer R. Deuis, and Irina Vetter. “Sodium Channels and Venom Peptide Pharmacology.” Advances in Pharmacology, 2017, 67–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.apha.2017.01.004.
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