The Playground Tragedies
3rdLanders screamed to me at recess to come over to see something weird. I was blown away by this writhing black string thing dancing atop a dead katydid. We did some research on my phone. Come to find out, this is a horsehair worm. Harmless to people, deadly to bugs . They have been known to appear after rainy days. Sometimes people find them in their toilets. Tragic fact: Horsehair worms can place their larva inside a cricket or katydid. When the larva grows up, it INFLUENCES its host, causing said host to jump into water and drown. Note that this influence doesn't occur unless the host is already near water. It will not travel long distances to drown itself. No one knows how this happens, but if you're a katydid next to some water, and a horsehair worm emerges from your body, my feeling is you would most likely jump in disgust and horror, inadvertently landing in nearby water, unhappily dying as you watch your horseh...
