Mind Control: The Horsehair Worm's Manipulation

One of nature's darkest mind control stories happens inside a simple praying mantis.

Hidden inside the mantis' body is a parasite called a horsehair worm.

For weeks, sometimes months, the worm grows silently inside its host.

The mantis keeps living normally, hunting, eating, unaware that something

else is slowly taking control. And then, when the worm is ready to

leave, it doesn't escape. It rewrites the mantis' brain. The insect suddenly

develops an urge it would never have in nature. It starts searching for water.

Healthy mantises avoid water at all costs, but this one walks toward it,