Nature Is Crazier Than Science Fiction: “Cordyceps”
This post is somewhat akin to an earlier one I blogged, about a mind-controlling, zombie-creating parasitic barnacle called Sacculina carcini.
This time, in stead of a crustacean, which is at least considered an “animal”, I’m posting about a friggen’ non-sentient fungus that’s just as nefarious as the barnacle…
There exists a crazy little fungus called “Cordyceps” that is parasitic to insects and arthropods (crabs, spiders, etc…). These insidious mushrooms enter their target host’s body and eventually control its brain and command it to travel to a non-typical location for the insect in order fot the mushroom’s spores to be released in an optimal location.
For example, from the Wiki Article on “Cordyceps unilateralis”:
The fungus’s spores enter the body of the insect through its respiratory spiracles, where they begin to consume the non-vital soft tissues. When the fungus is ready to spore, its mycelia enter the ant’s brain and change how it perceives pheromones, causing the insect to climb up the stem of a plant and use its mandibles to secure itself to the plant. Infected ants bite the leaf veins with abnormal force, leaving telltale dumbbell-shaped marks.
Crazy, right?!
Apparently this fungus has been used for centuries in the Far East to cure many ailments and promote other healthy benefits. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d be a little wary about putting these nasty fungi in my body…
Here is a gallery showing a few more scary but interesting images of the fungus in action:
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