[Ophiocordyceps] - The Fungus That Can Mind-Control Its Host

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Of all the crawling creatures we’ve been blessed with by nature, one of the most intriguing of them is the Ant.

Asides the many lessons we can actually learn from the relatively tiny creatures of the Formicidae family - such as organization, planning, unity and perseverance - the ants of the insect world can really scare and freak a grown-up out.

However, if you're an ant lover and the fact that our planet is filled with various forms and species of insects does not freak you out, then I’m sure you’d be interested to know that a strange species of ant can be mind-controlled; not by technology or some sophisticated superpower entity, but by a unique fungus. And these mind-controlled ants are known as “zombie ants”,

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_{Ant infected with a cordyceps fungus.
Source}

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If you are still surprised then I’d reiterate.

There exists in our environment, some ant species that can be turned into ‘zombie-like’ ants, by a mind-controlling fungus.

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How it happens

The strange fungus is known as Ophiocordyceps. The 'Ophiocordyceps' appears on the ground in form of spores.

When an ant foraging on the ground comes across the spores, the fungus infects the insect and the fungus spreads rapidly throughout the insect’s body.

Once the infection gets to the brain of the insect, the cells of the fungus release chemicals which take over the ant’s entire nervous system. This practically turns the ant into a mind-controlled puppet.

As soon as the fungus is in charge, it then forces the ant to crawl up to a higher location such as the stalk of a vegetable and then attaches itself to a twig or leaf.

Once the body of the ant is no longer of use to the fungus alive, the fungus kills its unlucky and useless host.

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_{A carpenter ant infected with the brain-controlling fungus.
Source}

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The whole domineering act of the fungus doesn’t stop there though. After the death of the ant, the fungus grows a spore-releasing stalk out of the ant’s head.

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_{Once the fungus kills its hapless drone it grows a spore-releasing stalk from the ant's head in order to infect more ants.Source}

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The stalk upon attaining full height and maturity would also release more mind-controlling spores onto the ground, thereby continuing the fungus’ weird life circle.

In essence, instead of having just one zombie ant under its control, the fungus can have thousands, under its control, through its repeated spore circle process.

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Discovery of Ophiocordyceps

Ophiocordyceps was first discovered by scientists back in 2009. While a researcher was studying the carpenter ants, she observed that despite the fact that there were a number of ant species, there happens to be only one ‘Ophiocordyceps’ type of fungus.

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_Source

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The Ophiocordyceps adapts according to the species of ants that it infects. This bizarre phenomenon of the fungus makes things even worse and horrifying, according to the observations made by the researchers, because they discovered that the Ophiocordyceps is a picky and choosy fungus.

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A Picky and Choosy fungus....... _{^{(I’ll be damned!)}}

Strange as it may sound, the Ophiocordyceps fungus gets choosy and quite picky about the specie or kind of ants that it infects. During the research, the scientists noticed that if an ant picks up a fungus spore, and the inherent fungus isn’t happy with the host – perhaps, too skinny, not juicy enough or who knows; maybe not sexy enough – the fungus lies dormant in the ant’s system until it can be passed from its unwanted host to a better one.

The research also showed that the Ophiocordyceps is capable of producing different mind-controlling chemical cocktails, depending on the host’s brain. This further suggests that the Ophiocordyceps knows where it is, how to operate, and is fully in control of its activities.

Once the Ophiocordyceps finds the one it likes, it simply produces the particular cocktail chemical suited to that particular ant’s brain, and ergo, takes over its mind.

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_{Tarantula infected with Cordyceps ignota - Source}

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In Summary

If the thought and scary concept of mind control isn’t terrifying enough as it is, the thought of a microorganism having the ability to mind-control a living organism is quite bizarre and mind-boggling.

There are about 400 species in the genus, and all of these strange parasites make their homes inside the bodies of other organisms — mostly in insects. Some of them reside even in other fungi.

Although not all of these Ophiocordyceps fungus are the evil zombie-makers you might think. Studies have shown that a few species of Cordyceps have medicinal and clinical benefits.

For instance, the fungi Cordyceps subsessilis, has been used to derive immunosuppressive drugs which are used in organ transplants.

However, some species of Cordyceps are indeed the body snatchers, and colonizing parasites that they are portrayed to be, because they have been making real zombies of ants for millions of years.

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Reference: Ref 1, Ref 2, Ref 3

Further Reading: 1, 2, 3, 4

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Thank you for your time and for reading my post.

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