Watch a Wasp Zombify and Lay an Egg Inside a Cockroach's Head

This soon-to-be mother wasp wants the best for her child, so she provides it with every newborn’s dream: a living cockroach ready to be devoured from the inside out.

Sound horrifying? Just wait to hear how she does it. First, the wasp stings the cockroach directly in the brain, disabling its escape reflex. Then she carefully leads it into her burrow, where she lays a single egg on its body. In time, the egg will hatch, and the larva will eat the cockroach’s body.

It’s like something out of a horror movie. Actually, if this was in a horror movie, you’d think it was too much. What a terrible way to go. You know it has to be really bad if it’s making you feel bad for a cockroach.

You can watch the whole gruesome process in this video.