Zombie Snail

About

Zombie Snail refers to a video of a snail taken over by the parasitic worm Leucochloridium, who then controls its motor functions and uses its eye stalks and body to mimic a caterpillar so a bird will eat it. The parasite can then reproduce in the bird's digestive tract and transmit via the bird's feces. The video went viral on Twitter on August 12th, 2019, as users commented upon the horrifying nature of it.

Origin

On August 12th, 2019, Twitter user @nakamanian posted video of a snail infected with the Leucochloridium parasite (shown below).

Later that day, Twitter user @minouyet^[1] tweeted the video, gaining over 23,000 retweets and 59,000 likes.

Precursor

On October 15th, 2012, the YouTube account for National Geographic posted a video about the "Zombie Snails" (shown below). On September 19th, 2014, Wired^[2] wrote a story about the snails, calling them "Disco Zombies."

Spread

As @nakamanian's and @minouyet's videos spread on Twitter, users began commenting upon their gross nature. Producer and DJ Snails tweeted "HOLY FUCK THATS A BIG NO FOR ME," gaining over 290 retweets and 2,000 likes (shown below, left). User @lamour tweeted that he had "called the FBI" after watching one second of the video (shown below, right).

Others joked that the snail was somehow apt for 2019. Twitter user @sophiescott made the joke, gaining over 110 retweets and 400 likes (shown below, left). User @upulie made a similar joke, gaining over 60 retweets and 450 likes (shown below, right). The video was covered by AV Club^[3] and its reactions were covered by Twitter Moments.^[4]

On August 14th, Instagram user @csirogram reposted the snail video, gathering mroe than 32,000 views over the next two weeks.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References