The Tease of Things I Don't Need

Bug Hunt

Well, hey, at worst it's like reading a serialized piece from Weekly World News. And, who knows? Maybe they'll turn something up.

Follow the blog entries for the Centre for Fortean Zoology team hunting the "Mongolian Death Worm." So far the deadliest thing on their site is in the form of spelling errors (as in the opening mention of the "illusive" creature -- which may as well be a Freudian slip.) , but it could be a fun expedition to follow. Here's their description of the creature from local folklore that they're hunting:

Approximately five-foot (1.5m) long, dwelling in the vast and inhospitable expanses of the Gobi Desert, the creature is known to Mongolia’s nomadic tribesmen as the allghoi khorkhoi (sometimes given as allerghoi horhai or olgoj chorchoj) or ‘intestine worm’ for its resemblance to a sort of living cow’s intestine. Apparently red in colour, sometimes described as having darker spots or blotches, and sometimes said to bear spiked projections at both ends, the khorkhoi is reputedly just as dangerous as its alarming appearance would suggest, squirting a lethal corrosive venom at its prey and capable of killing by discharging a deadly electric shock, even at a distance of some feet.