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This horrific close-up of an ant's face is freaking people out

image: Ant (Camponotus) Dr. Eugenijus Kavaliauskas/Nikon 2022 Photomicrography Competition

Nikon announced the winners of its 2022 Photomicrography Competition and the selections deliver a glorious view of the small scale weirdness of our world at the small scale. First Prize went to the 63x magnification image of an embryonic Madagascar giant day gecko's hand, seen below, by Grigorii Timin and Dr. Michel Milinkovitch of the University of Geneva. But the creepy crowd favorite making the rounds online is the terrifying portrait above of an ant's face at 5x magnification, as captured by Dr. Eugenijus Kavaliauskas. The photo earned an "Image of Distinction" nod but it's really a masterpiece of natural horror. Of course, part of what makes it particularly scary is that the roots of the antennae look like red eyes.

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