Oh The Horror!
Zombie ants? Not quite, but the fungus discussed in the clip does take over the will (for lack of a better word) of the infected ants. To the point that the insects will hang from the bottom of a leaf till they die, at which point the fungus sprouts from their bodies. SHUDDER worthy pictures of fungus sprouting insects in the clip as well.
Comments
totally creeped me out, so i had to share! :cheese:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/19/10 at 11:06 PM
cordyceps C.sinensis is the edible and medicinal one
http://www.nifg.org.uk/cordyceps.htm
http://www.nifg.org.uk/cordyceps.htm
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/20/10 at 12:51 AM
How come the top of the food chain keeps getting lower, and lower, and lowe, and low, and lo, and l, and , and, an, a,
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/20/10 at 12:56 AM
oh no! expat is hanging from the ceiling with fuzz growing outta him! 🐛
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/20/10 at 01:05 AM
I suspect the Cordyceps fungi were partly inspiration for the X-files episode "Firewalker", where spores of a new form of life recovered from a volcano made people go crazy and chain themselves to others just before the organism burst out of their throat and infected everyone nearby.
Posted by Dumbfounded on 08/20/10 at 07:28 AM
No, that story was, in fact true. It happened in a small town in Peru back in 1937.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 08/20/10 at 08:46 AM
Beautiful. The elegance of that kind of predation is just breathtaking.
Posted by venomlash on 08/20/10 at 11:55 AM
i can't hear you scout LALALALALALALA!
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/20/10 at 12:31 PM
oh no! :zip:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 08/21/10 at 12:18 AM
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Category: