Time to add 'horrifying giant beach worms' to Australia's list of WTF wildlife
They can grow up to 9 feet long and live all along Australia's populated eastern coasts.

Australia's giant beach worms are often collected for bait.
In many ways, Australia is an ideal place to live. Its comfortable climate with plentiful sunshine, beautiful natural attractions, high standard of living and people-centered policies give the land down under a leg up on many other countries.
As long as you're willing to put up with its long list of "WTF is that thing?!" wildlife, that is.
Australia's wildlife is the "Florida man" of the animal kingdom, with countless examples of exceptionally terrifying creatures showing up where you least expect them to. Sure, there are cuddly koalas and cute kangaroos as well, but those don't outweigh the spiders the size of your face, the massive saltwater crocodiles, 100 species of venomous snakes, the nonvenomous but equally as scary pythons that can eat said crocodiles, the tiny but potentially deadly irukandji jellyfish, etc., etc., etc.
And thanks to people sharing on the internet, we now have one more reason we can never go live in Australia: Giant Beach Worms.
Some of us already knew about Australia's giant earthworms, but comforted ourselves by the fact that we were unlikely to ever encounter them even if we did visit Oz. What some of us did not know was that there are also giant worms in the sand—at the beach, for the love—and they look like something straight out of a horror movie.
Please prepare yourself, then watch:
Nope. Nope. Nope. All the nopes. WTF is that, Australia?!? They can grow up to 300 cm long? That's like 9 frickin' feet. No. No, thank you.
The fact that these things are just hanging out under the sand along the populated east coast of Australia is too much to process. People apparently collect these worms for bait—ironically, using fish for bait to lure them out. I don't think that's how the circle of life is supposed to work, but we're talking about Australia here, where apparently anything is possible.
People in the comments, of course, had a heyday:
"Literally no space is safe in Australia. Just one big island of Tim Burton creatures and Vegemite."
"This is longer than my patience!"
"Australia is that you? Lol of course it is."
"I could have happily lived the rest of my natural life not having seen that..."
One person offered this bit of comfort:
"Lol this isn't the thing you need to worry about. It won't touch you it is only after fish. What you have to worry about are bristle worms, stone fish, blue ring octopus, happy moments, lion fish, irrakanji, box jelly fish, toad fish, sting rays and sea snakes."
Hahahaha. Thanks, mate.
Of course, the reality is that people go to the beach all the time in Australia and don't encounter any giant worms. Many Aussies in the comments said they've been enjoying Australian beaches their whole lives and haven't ever seen one. The worms aren't attracted to human flesh, so they're not going to just pop up and start nibbling on your toes. Theoretically, anyway.
By the way, there are actually three different kinds of giant beach worms one can find on Australia's beaches if they try. One is the "up to 9 feet" variety, one "only" grows up to around 3 feet and the third has nicknames like "hairy Mary," "greasyback" and "blackhead," which just sounds charming. That last one isn't favored as a bait worm, by the way, because, according to the Australian Museum, "If placed in the same container with others, it makes them all wriggle and break to pieces." Lovely.
It's not like the U.S. doesn't have its own scary or icky wildlife. We've got grizzly bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, brown recluse spiders and others. Some states might give Oz a run for its money in the WTF wildlife department (looking at you, Arizona), but in a real creepy creatures contest, Australia always wins, hands down.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.