The Legendary Mongolian Death Worm.
A foe so fearsome, the first mention of it it inspired nearly a century of tales.
But what if these were more than just tales?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today I am asking What if the Mongolian Death Worm
was real?
Before we slither in to this video, I want to ask you guys if you believe in the Death
worm, or other illusive creatures like it, like the loch ness monster, for example?
Let me know in the comments box down below.
The Mongolian Death Worm first came to light in the west when explorer and naturalist Roy
Chapman Andrews wrote about his expedition into the Gobi Desert in 1926.
The acclaimed explorer found that Mongolian natives believed firmly in the presence of
a fearsome monster in the Gobi Desert, although he himself wasn’t convinced.
He said that Officials, including the Mongolian Prime Minister, took the worm like monster
very seriously, and in his book, he wrote “None of those present ever had seen the
creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely.”
The worm is said to be between two to five feet long – so up to 1.5 metres.
It is supposed to be shaped like a sausage with neither a head or a tail.
It is said to be so poisonous that touching it would cause instant death.
Not only that, the legend was embellished over the years, with some accounts saying
that the worm spews deadly sulphuric acid and emits a similarly deadly electrical charge.
Basically…
it is toxic and scary and honey has no time for it.
People that have had time for it, however, have been eager cryptozoologists.
Dozens have flocked to the wild climes of the Gobi Desert in search of the seemingly
mythical beast and have come back emptied handed.
But, what if the Death Worm was indeed real.
Well, firstly, wormy lad needs to be pretty versatile.
There is a reason why not many things live and grow in the desert; it is HOT…but also
COLD.
Really cold.
The worm of doom and death and poison would have to be able to deal with the fluctuating
temperatures – in the Gobi Desert can reach plus 45 degrees celcius, but can plummet to
minus 40…so plus 113 Fahrenheit to minus 40 Fahrenheit.
The winds are intense, too.
Surviving itself would be one issue, but say the super worm of death could do that, what
exactly would it hunt?
It’s no good being a death worm if you can’t eat anything!
Well, actually, all that being said, the Gobi Desert is home to a number of wildlife species,
such as wild horses, jerboas, camels, snow leopards and the central Asian viper…who
we will get back to.
Normal worms eat things like decaying roots and leaves and fungus…and often rotting
remains of animals… but come on, with a name like Mongolian Death Worm, I don’t
imagine the sneaky sausage will be blubbering around desert carcasses, perhaps it would
go on a rampage, killing dessert inhabitants.
Maybe it wouldn’t even mean to – if coming into contact with it is as toxic as they say,
then maybe it would leave a trail of undevoured but poisoned bodies, and the humans would
only start noticing when a sickness swept the Gobi.
There are also some people living in the Gobi Desert – about three people per square mile.
These humans could very much be in danger.
Although, like, should we really be worried?
The Gobi Desert is 1.295 million square kilometres, which is pretty big.
One death worm in a space that large, what harm could it do to civilians?
Well…what if it had a whole family of death worm babies, what then?
Huh!
If that was the case, perhaps a team would be taken to the desert to seek and destroy
these slithery killers…but one, if no one has ever had a true first hand account of
the worm, how are we going to find it, and two… how does one even kill a death worm
if it is a poison spitter?
Well, this is the modern age, I am sure we could fashion some kind of non corrosive suit.
My main question, though, is …if you chop it in two, will it become two Mongolian Death
worms…like…you know…when you cut a worm in half?
Maybe the death worm is real in some sense….
The Gobi Desert was the home to dinosaurs, could it be a left over dino that somehow
managed to survive all these years?
Well, while a lot of scary looking dinosaur fossils have been found in the Gobi, there
is nothing that matches the description of the death worm, so it is double as unlikely
there is a dinoworm slithering around.
Could the death worm actually be the aforementioned Asian viper?
The snake is rare and not well documented, but it is said to be highly venomous, rather
like our mate the death worm.
That being said, they’re about 30 inches in length, so small compared to the worm.
Maybe it is a huge, freak viper?
Or maybe, just maybe… the Mongolian Death Worm is just another myth, another scare story
locals like to share on dark evenings to spark fear and excitement and maybe a dash of wonder
and mysticism amongst one another.
But, like with Nessie, the Sasquatch, El Chupacabra….the legends of the Mongolian Death Worm are enough
to keep us wondering.
So what do you guys think would happen if the Mongolian Death Worm was real?
Let me know in the comments section down below.
Also why don’t you let me know what video you would like us to make next?
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Life’s Biggest Questions – I am your host Rebecca
Felgate, I’ll catch you in the next video but until then, stay curious, leave a thumbs
up and never ever stop questioning.