Mongolian Death Worm Most of the bodies were found after dark, which was the only time it was safe for Natsag Zonig to conduct his search. The Gobi Desert was a killing zone in the summer months, with temperatures soaring past the capacity of most devices to measure them, if Natsag had carried such a device. But he traveled light, burdening his horse with little more than his own weight, a bladder of water and tarp for shade should his work take him until the blazing sun returned. Room needed to be kept for the bodies, most of which weighed no more than a dog, no matter how large the men or women had been in life. The sun was Natsag's enemy, but it was the sand, the endless sand, that he feared most. Because just beneath its surface was where the Mongolian Death Worm lurked, ready to strike and kill the innocent passerby. Called Allghoi Khorkhoi by natives such as Natsag, the beast hibernates deep below the dunes, emerging only during summer to breed. When provoked, the dark red, two-to-four foot, one-inch diameter worm sprays a strong poison to distances of up to 20 feet. The poison causes slow death or crippling injury distinguished by open sores that never heal. Any survivors are usually finished off by the sun, becoming parched, emaciated bags of skin and bones to be retrieved by impoverished men like Natsag, who would often be paid a gratuity by grieving families. A brown, leather-like hand poking out of a dune alerted Natsag to his next find. This was probably the body of Kigion, the young man who had been reported missing by his wife two days before. Quickly, Natsag tied the remains to his horse, relieved that the shifting sand had not buried it forever. He left for home at once. The Death Worm did not attack at night and it was time to return to his remote village, his meager existence and his finder's fee. While countless natives and Western explorers have sighted the Mongolian Death Worm, a live specimen has yet to be captured. Researchers speculate that the monster could survive in the southern deserts of the U.S., should a breeding pair be imported.