The bizarre world of parasitic wasps
512,738 views |
Miles Zhang |
TED-Ed
• January 2023
A cockroach and jewel wasp are locked in battle. The wasp latches onto the cockroach and inserts her stinger into the cockroach's brain, where her venom blocks its fight-or-flight response. Now, the cockroach is essentially a zombie, and its carcass will be used to grow the wasp's offspring. Miles Zhang explores the gruesome evolutionary strategy known as parasitoidism. [Directed by Denys Spolitak, narrated by Jack Cutmore-Scott, music by Salil Bhayani, cAMP Studio].