Jon Solo Sebastian 05/26/2025:

Welcome back to my Creature Feature! This one is a little gross considering it looks like a human intestine. The Mongolian Death Worm of the Gobi Desert is a two to seven foot long, blood-red colored desert worm that is allegedly still on the loose in Mongolia. A blood-red, scaly worm the size of a human intestine… are you grossed out, yet? No? Okay, well allow me to include this not-so tasty morsel—it spits out a yellowish substance that is either mucus or saliva, or a little bit of both. The substance is what the worm uses to attack its prey. It is believed to be highly poisonous and corrosive, and strong enough to take down a human. Another attack move that is likely apocryphal is the ability to fire bolts of electricity at its prey, or attackers. For a worm, that sounds like some solid attack moves, though like I said, the lightning bolts sound a little too far, far away from reality.

Does it exist? Is there any evidence, or is it a folktale?

Now that we’ve covered its appearance, lets dig into the sand a little bit to see what this gross fellow is all about.

Firstly, with the vastness of the Gobi Desert, it’s possible for species to go undetected and unconfirmed, so I always take that into consideration while I’m researching and writing. What I find the most interesting is with all of the alleged sightings by locals and tourists, we still do not have an ounce of evidence confirming its existence. Researchers have stated if this creature existed, we’d have found skeletons or something left behind either from a dead death worm, or something it attacked. The thing is if the venomous substance is corrosive, wouldn’t it destroy any leftovers from the worm’s kill?

There have been multiple expeditions by cryptid hunters and well-funded researchers, and they have still not walked away with any proof. They’ve laid out traps and set up cameras where the locals have stated are the most common areas the worm has been seen. They’ve “combed the desert” and have come up empty.

This has led to hunters and researches to chalk it up as another fabricated cryptid or misidentified known species. “There are a few possible explanations for the legend of the Mongolian Death Worm. The first theory is these accounts might actually be true but, like most stories passed orally for generations, they have become greatly exaggerated. The English translation of “death worm” from its original Mongolian name is also misleading, and experts believe that if such a creature exists it may be a type of reptile, not a soft, wriggly worm. Either the worm lizard, which looks like a large limbless worm that burrows underground and grows up to several feet, or a type of sand boa snake could have originally inspired the death worm lore.”

Most experts state the obvious—the desert is far too hot for worms to live in, but this particular worm burrows under the sand and stays below until it is ready to strike its prey. I’m no expert, but I would think if it stays far enough below the surface it should be a lot cooler there. Others have suggested the worm could be prehistoric and has adapted or evolved in order to survive.

I would have to say based on what I’ve learned that it might exist, but in the way of it being something similar that is misidentified because it’s hard to determine without proof and only hearsay sightings. This creature is more likely to be a folktale that changed over the years to sound like something far more terrifying than what it actually is. That said, I don’t think we can give up on it being real without somehow scouring the desert for it.

The Mongolian Death Worm in Pop Culture

Have you ever seen the various versions of Dune or read the books? It is said the Sandworms of Dune used the death worm for inspiration, and I have to admit I couldn’t stop thinking about the Sandworms while doing my research. Obviously, those were huge in the books and movies, but still mildly similar.

The Tremors movie is another one that came to mind. The Graboid is a similar creature to the death worm in that it’s subterranean and tracks its prey by movement and vibrations. Unlike the death worm, the Graboid is huge, and it has several long tentacles protruding from it. So it’s not quite the same thing, but likely inspiration was drawn from this creature for the film.

Regardless of the Mongolian Death Worm being real or not, I find it to be an interesting and possibly elusive creature with a pretty cool name.