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Hey guys! Do you love cool facts about nature and animals? But have you ever heard of the zombie-making fungus? Well, there’s a mushroom that has the most bizarre ability to grow inside insects’ bodies. Its spores attack an insect (an ant, for example), replace the host’s tissue with its own, and then it shoots stems that grow outside of the body. In other words, it takes over ants’ bodies to control their minds? But how exactly does it work?
A minuscule, almost invisible fungal spore flutters through the air and lands on the back of an ant. Its body’s covered in armor that protects it from any danger. But the spore attaches itself and creeps between the shield plates. Of course, the unlucky insect doesn’t suspect anything and goes home. Few days pass, the ant still feels fine, but the spore inside its body is growing. A week after the infection, the ant begins to behave strangely. It doesn’t sleep well, doesn’t work hard. And one day, it leaves the colony unnoticed…
#brightside
Preview photo credit:
Ant with a parasitic fungus in a tropical rainforest: By PATRICK LANDMANN/Science Photo Library/East News, https://www.eastnews.ru/pictures/picture/id/72209936/i/0/t/0
Animation is created by Bright Side.
CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0:
Loa Loa – filarial worm: By Nathan Reading, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18916159
Adult Loa Loa Parasite: By NIAID, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39933148
CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0:
Cymothoa exigua: By Marco Vinci, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30119814
Toxoplasmosis lymphadenopathy: By Nephron, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11211320
Cymothoa exigua: By Marco Vinci, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27484635
CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0:
Live Cymothoa exigua: By Elkin Fricke, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59385860
Animation is created by Bright Side.
TIMESTAMPS:
Zombie Fungus 0:01
Wasp Virus 2:26
Web-manipulating wasps 3:55
Tongue-eating fish parasite 4:48
What turns mice into zombies 5:52
Loa loa (Eye worm) 7:49
Why parasites are very useful for life 8:28
Music by Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com/
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