Image source: Douban Movie
The largest length of the sandworm in the original book is about 400 meters, controlling a territory of 300 to 400 square kilometers, and there are "spices" in the area where it is infested. The biggest feature of the sandworm is that it has a huge mouth, and the inside of the mouth is covered with densely packed sharp teeth, like an abyss that will swallow everything around it.
Although the sandworms on the planet Erracus look terrible and do not look like species on Earth at all, in our real world, there are bugs that are similar to them. As for what the prototype of the sandworm is closest to, today we will discuss it with you!
Ferocious and swift Bobbitt worms
Bobbitt worm, officially known as "isaica silkworm" (is a class of animals, several of which are commonly known as bobbitt worm). Bobbitt is a nocturnal animal that can generally reach more than 1 meter or more in size and feed on organic detritus.
The mouthparts of the Bobbitt worm are very complex, turning from the inside to the outside, and have an extremely sharp jaw at the end. There are also 5 tentacles around the mouthparts of the Bobbitt worm, which can be very sensitive to detect the prey and tear the prey vigorously through the muscles in the pharyngeal cavity, tearing it in half in an instant. Bobbitts generally lurk deep within the ocean floor, exposing only about 10 centimeters of their heads to wait for their prey to arrive. When prey is scarce, Bobbitt worms begin to eat some plants such as seaweed to replenish their energy.
Image credit: Pinterest
Scientists speculate that Bobbitt worms inject venom into the body of their prey to better digest it. In addition, it can also attack prey that is much larger than itself, and if anyone approaches, it will definitely be bitten fiercely.
According to the setting in the original Dune, the sandworm evolved from a creature called the "sand trout", which desertified the land of the planet Erracus by devouring microorganisms and water for many years to produce "spices". And sandworms evolved to adapt to the desert. From this setting alone, the Bobbitt worm is actually closer to the "sand trout" in the dune planet.
Mysterious species Mongolian death worm
The Mongolian Death Worm is an extremely mysterious species that is said to have inhabited the depths of Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Many local legends in Mongolia have this bug, and many of the bugs in tomb robbery movies are based on this bug.
In addition, the American naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews also mentioned the existence of Mongolian death worms in his 1926 book On the Trail of Ancient Man. It reads: The Mongolian Death Worm is two feet long and resembles a sausage, and can be poisoned with a light touch. According to rumors, the Mongolian Death Worm has a red body, spews extremely corrosive venom and can also release an electric current to attack prey several feet away.
Image source: Pinterest This creature has been rumored to be in people for many years, and there are very few records of it. As a result, many experts and scholars have also traveled to Mongolia to find this mysterious creature, but in the end they all returned empty-handed. If the Mongolian Death Worm really exists, it is also close to the image of the sandworm in Dune.
Sandworms in reality
It must be mentioned here that in fact, in our real world, there is also a creature called "sandworm", also called sand intestine, scientific name sipunculus nudus. This sandworm generally lives at the bottom of the sand along the coast. Because they burrow in and out of the sand with the low tide, they are called sandworms.
This bug has no body hair and is long-barreled. Its muscles are relatively developed, but its body structure is very simple, with a body length of about 10-22 cm, mainly to swallow grit.
Sandworms have extremely high requirements for the living environment. In general, in polluted places, sandworms cannot survive. Therefore, sandworms are also known as "environmental marker organisms". In addition, sandworms also have high nutritional value, belonging to high-protein, low-fat and low-sugar aquatic products. It is often used by people to eat it fresh, or dried.
Although the name of the sandworm is the same as the sandworm in "Dune", the difference between the two is still very large. Therefore, the sandworms in our reality are certainly not the prototypes of the sandworms in Dune.
Image source: Douban movies have actually been controversial about the prototype of sandworms. Bobbitt worms and Mongolian death worms are very similar to the sandworms in the "dune" world to varying degrees, and they are extremely aggressive, and their ferocity is highly consistent with the sandworms in the dunes.
Therefore, we still cannot determine who is the prototype of the "sandworm", or that the author refers to more than one prototype when describing the sandworm.
Who do you think is the prototype of the sandworm?