If Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965) is the greatest of science fiction sagas, then the sandworm of the planet Arrakis might be the greatest of science-fiction animal. Worshiped by the indigenous people of Arrakis, the Freemen, Shai-Hulud (in the language of the Freemen) is a type of giant annelid that could grow up to exceed 400 meters in length and a 100 meters in thickness. The Shai-Hulud’s circular mouth could reach 80 meters in diameter and contain over 1,000 or more carbo-silica crystal teeth. The adult sandworm was made up of segments that could range anywhere between 100 and 400 in number, and each segment contained a primitive nervous system. Respiration was accomplished through skin pores. Most of the worm’s nutrients were in the form of gases, thus the worm had no circulatory system as such. Shai-Hulud was a great deity to the Freemen, who called it “Old Man of the Desert,” “Grandfather of the Desert,” and “Old Father Eternity,” respectively. Shai-Hulud were legendarily indestructible and had life spans potentially of thousands of years. The Biblical “Hymn to Shai-Hulud” is testament to the identification of the sandworm to Leviathan or the “Great Water Creature” and perhaps to “The Furry Whale” of divine legend. Nonetheless, Shai-Hulud manifested fundamentally sacred connotations for the Freemen. Freemen developed the ritual art of riding sandworms through the skill of worm-charming and the use of specially designed maker hooks. The underrated film version of Dune by David Lynch (1984) gives us a glimpse of the skill necessitated for riding Shai-Hulud.