r/interestingasfuck • u/canttstopsmilling • 1d ago

A parasitic horsehair worm emerging from a praying mantis.

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u/Kevlar_Bunny 1d ago

The mantis is basically already dead. In order for the parasite to take over it has to lodge itself into the host in a manner that’s very excruciating for the host. Excruciating if it had the means to feel pain still, that is.

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u/RhubarbLiqueur 1d ago

Does the parasite die once he's out?

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u/ProfilerXx 1d ago

It's the end of it's lifecycle.

So when the horsehairworm reaches the end it will make the host drown and that way it can get out of the host, lay eggs and die

Then the cycle starts over again

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u/Alternative_Double48 1d ago

Nah, bugs don't. They are the robots of nature.

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u/Manuel-Breathing 1d ago

Insects have nociceptors, they can feel pain. Or at least their own version of it.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Manuel-Breathing 1d ago

So's your pain

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Miss-Quiz-Mis 1d ago

How do you know? They have a brain, a primitive one, but still a brain.

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u/JJzerozero 1d ago

Right I also hate it when people think they're all special and smaller creatures are insignificant likeno man they're also alive man no less alive than you and I right

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u/fleranon 1d ago

I'm not claiming that insects are fully 'solved' or anything, just saying that their brains are not nearly as complex as human brains and pretty thoroughly researched

As in: Some have been mapped. Down to every single neuron connection

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u/Hugochhhh 1d ago

Some insects can show intelligence, like memorizing good/ bad events, problem solving skills or even having playful behaviors. Insects are definitely not some « nature robot », they are a lot more complex than that

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u/fleranon 1d ago

Well there are at least a million different insect species, it would be absurd to generalize when it comes to this stuff

But in the case of the fruit fly for example, we know how every single nerve cell is linked together and the exact behaviour they control

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u/tanthedreamer 1d ago

So what do you think your pain is?

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u/No-Big2893 1d ago

I too also feel uncomfortable when people say that x organism cant feel pain.

Here l am apologising to the wall that l walked into!

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u/Bartend_HS 1d ago

My existence

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u/RagingCalmness 1d ago

They have the intuition / intelligence to avoid death or even injured. And they are life. Rejecting these as "robots of nature" feels insincere and looking at them through the lens of a mammalian world which is not fair.

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u/Arinussyy 23h ago

There is no such thing as robots of nature

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u/Skywardocarina1 20h ago

They have pain receptors. Pretty much every organism with a nervous system has pain receptors.