What is the fungus that turns ants into zombies?

What is the fungus that turns ants into zombies?

fungus Ophiocordyceps camponoti-floridani
The fungus Ophiocordyceps camponoti-floridani can infect ants and manipulate their behaviour in a way that is beneficial for fungus growth and transmission. These infected ants are also called zombie ants. Influenced by the fungus, the ants climb to a high point and bite into a branch, attaching themselves until death.

Is zombie ant fungus real?

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as zombie-ant fungus, is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems.

Is the Cordyceps fungus real?

Cordyceps /ˈkɔːrdɪsɛps/ is a genus of ascomycete fungi (sac fungi) that includes about 600 species. Most Cordyceps species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly on insects and other arthropods (they are thus entomopathogenic fungi); a few are parasitic on other fungi.

Can zombie ant fungus affect humans?

The fungus, ‘Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato,’ infects ants’ muscles rather than their brains, causing them to hyper-contract. The fungus is not harmful to humans. The article, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Experimental Biology, said that that results in a death grip.

What animals can turn into zombies?

While predominantly a fictional concept when applied to larger mammals, there have been instances of insects, such as ants and wasps, becoming “zombies” from a real world perspective. For example, the Cordyceps fungus is known to infect insects and change their behavior before their eventual death.

What to do if you get bitten by a zombie?

If someone is bitten, clean the wound thoroughly and disinfect with an antibiotic cream, rubbing alcohol, or a mixture of vinegar, salt, and water if no antibiotics are available. It’s possible this little step could save a lot of lives in a zombie situation.

What disease is like a zombie?