Alien-like tentacles burst out of dead praying mantis is stomach-churning video

The natural world can be a weird and wonderful place, and more often than not, it's the latter - disgusting us humans with its weird quirks that can look like something straight out of a horror movie.

Now, a video of alien-like tentacles has gone viral after they were filmed bursting out of a dead praying mantis.

The video was posted to Reddit a day ago, and at the time of writing, it has already received 33.4K reactions and over 1.6K comments.

It was appropriately captioned: "Better call the Men In Black."

Watch the stomach-churning video below: 

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The footage begins with a man slicing open the giant green bug, before prodding and poking it with the knife, and it's then hat the perverse surgeon begins to whoop as the first two tentacles emerge from the mantis.

One Reddit user reacted by writing: "I don't see a proper amount of fire in this video."

A second agreed, adding: "There was a very distinct point for me when it switched from 'oh, that’s kinda neat' to 'WHY IS IT NOT ON FIRE?!?!'"

Another Redditor questioned: "Alright, who went to Antarctica and brought back The Thing? Be honest."

A third wrote: "I'm a grown-a** man. Some of my friends have mentioned how 'tough' I am. I guess I'm probably scrappier than the average guy.

"If I poked that bug and saw those worms come out, I would run away like a little b**ch, screaming for my mommy, with tears running down my little b**ch face."

Meanwhile a fourth joked: "If 2020 was a video."

However, the most upvoted comment on Reddit explained what the tentacles actually are, and thankfully, they're not the alien-like tendrils that they appear to be.

It reads: "Horsehair worms. They're pretty common parasites in insects. But now that their host was apparently murdered, they're trying to escape to more verdant spineless pastures."

As per The Sun, if you're looking to avoid these Hell worms, it's best to avoid damp areas, where they grow to between two and four inches long.

However, you can take comfort in the fact that horsehair worms typically only feast on bug brains... usually.