Mongolian death worm

In On the Trail of Ancient Man, Andrews cites Mongolian prime minister Damdinbazar, who in 1922 described the worm: In 1932, Andrews published this information again in the book The New Conquest of Central Asia, adding: "It is reported to live in the most arid, sandy regions of the western Gobi." Andrews, however, did not believe in the creature's existence. The worm is said to inhabit the western or southern It is said it can kill at a distance, either by spraying a venom at its prey or by means of electric discharge. It primarily lives and burrows underground, only rarely coming to the surface. == Investigations ==

The animal was the basis of a short story, (1944), by Russian paleontologist and science fiction writer Ivan Yefremov, written under the impression of Andrews's book. In 1946–49 Yefremov was studying fossils in the Gobi desert and wrote that he heard the legend of olgoi-khorkhoi many times, but nobody claimed to have seen it. In 1990 and 1992, Ivan Mackerle led small groups of companions into the Gobi Desert to search for the worm. Inspired by Frank Herbert's novel Dune, in which giant fictional sandworms could be brought to the surface by rhythmic thumping, Mackerle constructed a motor-driven "thumper" and even used small explosions to try to find it. Reality-television series Destination Truth conducted an expedition from 2006 to 2007. A New Zealand television entertainment reporter, David Farrier of TV3 News, took part in an expedition in August 2009 but came up empty-handed as well. He conducted interviews with locals claiming to have seen the worm and mentioned on his website that the sightings peaked in the 1950s. == Popular culture ==

• The worm is commonly cited as the inspiration for the Graboids, the monstrous villains of the Tremors film franchise. • Mongolian Death Worm is a 2010 television film that aired on May 8, 2010, on the Syfy channel. • Monster of the Week includes an example adventure in which three Mongolian Death Worms hatch from a crate of museum samples, and will begin multiplying rapidly if not caught by the hunters. • Ark: Survival Evolved contains a creature in its expansion Scorched Earth called the "Death Worm" with an in-game scientific name of "Khorkoi Arrakis" alluding to both the Mongolian Death Worm and the Sandworm from Dune. • Dandadan includes a storyline depicting an unusually large Mongolian Death Worm mistaken for another cryptid, the Tsuchinoko, sustained by sacrifices made by the fictional Kitō family for 200 years. • In One Piece, Saint Shepherd Ju Peter, one of the Five Elders, can transform into a creature resembling the Mongolian Death Worm. • In Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Horn of the Abyss mod, there is a level 5 creature that can be upgraded from a Sandworm to an Olgoi-khorkhoi. • In Dark Souls III, at Smouldering Lake, a giant worm can be found, whose origins lie in a desertous location similar to the Dune series. • In Shadow of the Colossus, at an earlier phase of development, a giant worm colossus similar to the Death Worm was fought underground. Additionally, texture filenames pertaining to its arena, written by developers, contain the name "dune". == See also ==