Nature can be strange. Even cruel. And at times disgusting (or fascinating, depending on who you ask).
The idea of a parasite living inside another being, feeding off of it, can make some squeamish. Watching it crawl out of its host’s carcass is the stuff of nightmares — and yet that’s what happens in the video below.
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It’s unclear why the person in the video killed the praying mantis. Some actually question the video’s authenticity. Regardless of the authenticity of the video, parasites are real. In fact, the type of parasite that appears to be crawling out of the praying mantis is known as nematomorph hairworms, according to IFLScience.com.
And hairworms can not only live in the belly of their hosts, but they can take over their brains as well. They can even make crickets jump in water — fatal for the cricket, but life-giving to the worm because they need it in order to reproduce. Watch this video of a hairworm crawling out of a drowned cricket.
For more fascinating facts about the praying mantis, watch this video from Animal Planet.
