In the high deserts of New Mexico, he finds horsehair worms aplenty. For Hanelt's money, it's a matter of opportunism. The parasites end up in a tangled knot that can be as heavy as the tattered-and oftentimes very much alive-host they leave behind.Īs for why the worms would have needed to evolve such tactics, we have only theories. After developing for several months, the worms mind-control their hosts to make a kamikaze dive into water, then escape through holes bored in the insect's exoskeleton. More commonly known as the horsehair worms, because folks with a limited understanding of reality once thought they were horsehairs that animated upon hitting water, the 350 or so known species invade insects like the luckless cricket above. It also lends its name to one of the animal kingdom’s most clever parasites, the Gordian worm, which has solved the often insurmountable problem of survival with means that are horrifyingly over-the-top. The tall tale gives us the expression “to cut the Gordian Knot,” meaning to solve a seemingly insurmountable problem by over-the-top means. Alexander, unable to unravel the knot, drew his sword and sliced right through it, then, apparently with the blessing of the eviscerated loops, went on to conquer Asia minor.

Legend held that the hero who could undo this exceedingly intricate Gordian Knot, as it was not-so-creatively called, would rule Asia.

In 333 B.C., Alexander the Great marched his army into the city of Gordion, where there was a massive knot in desperate need of untying.

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