If you ever find yourself traipsing through the desolate Gobi Desert, tread carefully. Lurking beneath the sand is a creature so feared that many locals dare not speak its name. Its appearance is unflattering – imagine a two-foot long salami, blood-red in colour, with no obvious external features. But what it lacks in looks it more than makes up for in sheer bloody-mindedness. If reports are to be believed, the Mongolian Death Worm is the ultimate animal psycho. Get on the wrong side of it and you can expect to be sprayed with a lethally acidic venom that can corrode metal. Or maybe you'll be zapped by an electric shock from its eyes.

The Mongolians call it Allghoi Khorkhoi – 'the intestine worm'. But chances are, it's probably not a worm at all. Worms are hopeless at retaining water, so they don't do well in hot, dry conditions. More plausibly, the worm is actually a skink – a slender lizard with small or vestigial limbs. Skinks do like to burrow in sand, but they aren't venomous. In fact, there are only two known species of venomous lizard – the gila monster and the Mexican bearded lizard. Neither are found in Asia.

If not a lizard then maybe a snake? Some cryptozoologists (who examine mysterious animal sightings) have suggested that the worm matches the description of the death adder, a highly venomous snake from Australasia. Death adders are closely related to cobras, and some species of cobra can spit venom in self-defence. But the sprayed venom is only dangerous if it gets in the eyes, and it certainly doesn't have any corrosive properties. An electrical discharge seems even more unlikely. Some eels and a few other species of fish can call on these shock tactics, but it's a skill totally lacking in all land animals.

Top of page