A “terrifying” photo has been circulating on social media. No, this photo is not from a scary Halloween movie — it’s an award-winning photo of an ant.
For those who may be fans of the cute cartoon faces ants have in Disney/Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life,” you may want to brace yourself.
Where the ant photo was entered
The internet is buzzing over an award-winning photo entered in the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition of an up-close shot of a carpenter ant.
CNN reported there were 57 total images entered into the competition and the photographer who took the ant photo is Lithuanian photographer Eugenijus Kavaliauskas.
Though the photo won distinguished awards at the contest, many people are not so sure how to feel about the face of the photo’s subject.
Some have dubbed the photo a ‘horror movie’ shot
Twitter users have taken to the internet to share the photo along with their thoughts about the subject.
One user wrote in their tweet, “Image from a horror movie? Nope. That’s the very real face of an ant. An ant. Now you have to think about that all night.”
Another user retweeted the above post and wrote in response to the photo, “We need an animal horror film revival.”
The photographer thought the photo is beautiful
Despite the negative responses to the subject of the photo, Kavaliauskas has defended his work as beautiful and that how one may look at it depends on their point of view.
The ant’s face is an example of “God’s designs and the many interesting, beautiful, unknown miracles under people’s feet,” Kavaliauskas told The Washington Post.
He further elaborated that some may find it scary because there is much unknown about nature.
“There are no horrors in nature, only lack of knowledge,” Kavaliauskas said. “When I began photomicrography and before that, I was like everyone else — all beetles and insects were monsters to me. Now the situation has turned upside down. Many insects are not as pleasing to the eye as a cat, but it all depends on your point of view.”