Skin-crawling footage shows hundreds of wriggling legs as a giant centipede 'hugs' its offspring
- Centipede enthusiast Lee Jae Sug, 18, filmed his Amazonian giant centipede
- The insect cradles its young at Mr Sug's home in Incheon, South Korea
- Mr Sug has several terrariums where he keeps large tropical centipedes
A giant centipede cradles its newborns while lying on its back as they squirm and wriggle in a ball of tiny insects.
Centipede enthusiast Lee Jae Sug, 18, filmed his pet as it looked after its brood at his home in Incheon, South Korea.
Mr Sug has several terrariums — like an aquarium but for plants and insects — where he keeps large tropical centipedes.
He says: 'I have been keeping scolopendras for about two years now.'
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Centipede enthusiast Lee Jae Sug, 18, films his pet as it looks after its brood at his home in Incheon, South Korea
In this short clip he shows one of his insects as it cradles its batch of newborns.
The insect's offspring make up a wriggling ball as their mother tries to keep them under control with some of her many legs.
These centipedes, whose diets consist of grasshoppers worms and other soft-bodied insects, carry their young around by gripping them with their rear legs.
The scolopendras, otherwise known as the Amazonian giant centipede, are venomous but also nervous and jumpy.
The insect's offspring make up a wriggling ball as their mother tries to keep them under control with some of her many legs
They can grow to 11 inches long and their legs are used both to quickly attack, and retreat from, an enemy. Their predators include blackhead snakes.
The large insects have even been known to eat bats. Their technique for killing a bat involves lingering on the walls of caves, grasping the ceiling with their hind legs and lunging at their prey.
On the ground they coil themselves around prey, which can include small frogs or anything else they can overpower, before breaking it into pieces as they consume it.
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