The bizarre world of parasitic wasps
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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].