How come nobody ever told me about Zombie Ants?

[pokerfan]

So incredibly cool!

A fungus that infects and takes over an ant's brain!

It was today's EarthSky moment which was apparently a rerun from May:
http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/fungus-turns-tropical-carpenter-ants-into-the-walking-dead

The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts. Firstly by using the ant as a walking food source, and secondly by damaging muscle and the ant’s central nervous system, resulting in zombie walking and the death bite, which place the ant in the cool damp understory. Together these provide the perfect environment for fungal growth and reproduction. This behavior of infected ants is essentially an extended phenotype of the fungus (fungal behaviour through the ant’s body) as non-infected ants never behave in this way.



The fungus can only complete its life cycle through the ant. Spores germinate, and the fungus penetrates the ant’s body. It proceeds to infect the entire animal, affecting its central nervous system. You can tell when a carpenter ant has been infected: instead of marching purposefully down a trail, an infected worker ant walks about haphazardly, displaying erratic behavior. Sporadic convulsions set in, causing the infected ant to fall from the canopy to the moist, cool, leafy forest understory, ideal conditions for the fungus to continue its growth.

Infected ants on the forest understory are driven by the fungus to select leaves of saplings that are about 25 centimeters (10 inches) above the soil surface. Then, a curious thing happens when the sun shines at its highest intensity of the day, at solar noon when it reaches the highest point in the sky. The fungus commands the ant to sink its mandibles into the leaf’s main vein, on the underside of the leaf. A possible reason for this action is to attach the ant to a stable environment suitable for the fungus’s subsequent development. But this synchronization with solar noon is a mystery, and it will be the subject of follow-up research.

Scientists call this stage, when the ant bites deep into the leaf vein, the “death grip,” because the ant is now locked to the leaf, providing a secure attachment for the fungus growing inside it. At this point, the ant is close to death, usually surviving for another 6 hours following its death grip. Its head is filled with fungal cells growing between muscle fibers, as well as around the brain and postpharyngeal gland<1>. Following the death grip, the ant’s mandible muscles atrophy, leaving its jaws locked into the leaf long after it’s dead.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. There's all types of fungi.

:think:

[pokerfan]

6. Really?

Fascinating...

[Confusious]

2. While interesting

it also gives me the willies.

Anything that eats something while still living freaks me out.

There's an African fly that plants it's eggs in living flesh and the larva start eating when they hatch.

:scared: disgusting....

[pokerfan]

4. The Spider Wasp (Pompilidae) springs to mind

It paralyzes its prey and plants an egg in the spider's abdomen. When the egg hatches, the larva will feed on the still living spider, saving the vital organs for last.

[Confusious]

10. aaauuughhhh! why did you have to tell me THAT?!? nt

[pokerfan]

12. because it's really cool and disgusting! n/t

[Speck Tater]

3. Maybe it's a zombie brain fungus that forces humans to become Republicans. nt

[pokerfan]

5. Winner

[Poll_Blind]

7. Parasitic mind control is all the rage- have you seen these videos:

Parasitic Mind Control of ants by liver flukes
Snail Zombies - Snails and Leucochloridium worms

Both of these videos are short, informative and if they don't give you the willies, especially the second one, then you're a stronger person than I'll ever be.

PB

[pokerfan]

9. Mother Nature's a mad scientist, Jerry!

Bird poop as the cycle of life...

[valerief]

8. AKA Teabagger ants. nt

[AlecBGreen]

11. happens to rats too

Rat gets infected, rat runs to cat, cat eats rat, cat scats, rat snacks on the scat, and on and on... Evolution is cooooool.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110819141519.htm

When a male rat senses the presence of a fetching female rat, a certain region of his brain lights up with neural activity, in anticipation of romance. Now Stanford University researchers have discovered that in male rats infected with the parasite Toxoplasma, the same region responds just as strongly to the odor of cat urine.

[laconicsax]

13. Sorry, I thought you knew. n/t

[shireen]

14. hey! i wrote that!

love those zombie ants. ;)