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Zombie Ants and Killer Fungus
nibbles2004 writes "An article in the Guardian newspaper shows how parasitic fungi evolved the ability to control ants they infect, ultimately leading the ant to its death. The fungus controls the ant's movements to a suitable leaf and causes the ant to grip onto the leaf's central stem, allowing the fungus to spore, which will allow more ants to become infected."
I wonder if the zombie ants have a higher chance of infecting others if the leaves they cling to are the leaves of GRAAAAIIIIIINNNNSSS?
I am scientifically inaccurate.
M. Night Shiamalan will probably make a stupid movie about this.
I welcome our fungus overlords
When you need him?
-AC
But isn't this same fungus found in some humans, too? It doesn't cause them to climb trees, but it does tend to make them more aggressive, paranoid, and less able to deal with authority IIRC. I thought there was a /. story about it, and how the the higher a country's proportion of infection was, the more likely they were to have a better Soccer team...
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Next there will be a special breed of ant that evolves to place the larval fungus in its stomach pouch.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
This was featured on the BBC series Planet Earth- the episode on jungles. Very cool to see a fungi erupt from an ant's head!
The article actually explains that this behavior of the fungus controlling the ant has been ongoing for 48 million years. The slashdot summary does not even mention this as the key point.
This sounds like a wonderful new weapon to develop. Human Zombies that explode spreading their Zombiefing spores. That should solve our terrorist problems rather quickly. Guess I need to stock up on anti-fungi's down in the bunker.
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The oatmeal did a comic about a similar tapeworm, look for it in wikipedia
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/captain_higgins
BBC Planet Earth shows the cordyceps fungus attacking some Bullet Ants in South America. It is incredible camera work showing the ant being forced to climb, and later a time lapse of the fruit body erupting from the ant's body. It is short but very well filmed, as is the case for the entire series.
HIGHLY recommend watching this if you have any interest in nature.
The cordyceps section is around 28 minutes into the "Jungle" episode. You won't be dissapointed.
Actually I searched youtube and found an excert of this episide including the cordyceps on the ants. The cordyceps part starts about 4 minutes into this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qabQZQQrGk
I still recommend getting the blue-ray or at least dvd of this series, can't say enough good things about it in general.
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Behavioral_changes
A parasite found inthe urinary tracts of felines that infects about half the human population
It makes rats lose their fear of cat urine, and has been linked to schizophrenia in humans
Wherever You Go, There You Are
An article in the Guardian newspaper shows how parasitic fungi evolved the ability to control ants they infect [emphasis added]
No... not really. If you RTFA, it gives a nice outline of what we have known for many years about the fungus controlling the ants, and it mentions the new fact: That evidence of the behavior is found in 48 million-year-old fossilized plants. Nowhere does the article even hint that we have even a remote understanding of the "how".
Allow me to quote the end of the article:
He added: "Of all the parasitic organisms, only a few have evolved this trick of manipulating their host's behaviour.
Why go to the bother? Why are there not more of them?"
Scientists are not clear how the fungus controls the ants it infects, but know that the parasite releases alkaloid chemicals into the insect as it consumes it from the inside.
>> Standing on head makes smile of frown, but rest of face also upside down.
Reminds me of something out of Speaker for the dead.
Better known as 318230.
When headlines look like the titles of ScFi Channel movies.
I've ran into two better examples of parasite-inducing mind-control / suicide...
1) A parasite that needs to get to water for its adult stage, so just before it climbs out of its host (somewhat aliens-style) it influences it to dive into water:
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/cricket_infected_with_gordian_worm_committing_suicide/
2) a snail driven to suicidal behavior to attract the next vector, a bird, to continue its life cycle:
http://zombieresearch.net/2009/10/14/zombie-snail-spreads-infection/
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
This article reminds me of a good comic from The Oatmeal describing a flatworm that engages in similar behavioural manipulation: Why Captain Higgins is my favorite parasitic flatworm - The Oatmeal
If both a fungus and a flatworm can make an ant climb onto the right leaf, I wonder if there's some easy way to trigger an algorithm in the ant's brain that homes them to the right spot? Oh, and if I recall correctly, there's a bee or wasp that can sting an ant's head, injecting its venom into the correct nerve area, to allow the bee to lead the ant to a good eating spot, like leading a horse by its reigns.
This was the bases of an X-Files episode as well, except it was in humans, not in ants.
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
We know that:
- organisms that survived and procreated did something successful, and
- behavior is inherited.
This sounds to me like the ant climbs because the fungus is in its head and its trying to escape it by going higher. There's a similar organism reproduction cycle with ants where the ant goes to the top of grass, and the ant is said to be controlled to do that so it is easy prey for a bird where the organism continues the cycle in the intestines.
The way this should be viewed is that parasites that attacked certain areas of their host that resulted in host behavior that was most successful for the parasite to move to the next stage of growth survived, and others who didn't are not here. Neither "controlled" the host, it is blind evolutionary luck.
Similar can be said about organisms that release toxins that force a flushing action for their onward journey. Did they "control" the host to develop diarrhea? No, those that perform actions that allow for survival and procreation survived and procreated. Unfortunately for both ants and humans, with devastating, but thoughtless, effectiveness.
rd
This phenomenon has also been observed in the stink ant of the Cameroon.
.sig withheld by request
Not to mention
Futurama - Season 3 Ep. 4 Parasites Lost
Though in that case, Fry got quite a lot of upgrades from his intestinal colony.
I'm a fungus afficionado, if there is such a thing, and here I was all excited that they'd actually made some progress explaining how the fungus causes the ants to carry out such very specific behaviors. And the summary made it sound like that... But it basically boiled down to a sentence or two at the end of the article saying "We think the fungus uses some kind of chemicals on the ants. We don't really know." What a bunch of bullshit.
... I think I have fungus in my head to post this /. comment. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
our new zombie ant..... meh, too easy.
Shut up brain or I'll stab you with a Q-Tip. - Homer Simpson
"The fungus controls the ants movements to a suitable leaf and causes the ant to grip onto the leaf's central stem, allowing the fungus to spore which will allow more ants to become infected."
Sounds like modern, social-networking.
I propose that, in the future, Facebook users are referred to as "Zombie Ants!" (must include the exclamation) and Facebook be referred to as "Killer FungusBook" (may be substituted with "Necrotizing FasciitisBook" when used in academic circles).
I believe this would remove a lot of the ambiguity and distrust pervading the current spectrum of social-engineerin...er, social-networking models.
X-Files.
I think the ep was called "FireWalker"
This isn't the first time ants have had to deal with the walking dead.
The Register had this last year.
"Toxoplasma gondii,"hijacks the sexual reward pathway" in rats' minds. "
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/04/how-cat-poo-parasite.html
It also has unspecified effects on humans (current theory is neurotic behavior-- which could affect entire civilizations and cultures).
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
That's the thing about Sci-fi. Someone dreams it up, then it becomes even scarier when it is found to exist in real life. (or something close to it). I know, Halo isn't the first to explore the motiff, but I have to say it:
"Glass the amazon, it's the only way to be sure!"
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Here's another one that was mentioned on slashdot, although it is also a worm inside of grasshoppers that convinces the insect to move towards water. Another one eats the brain even if it doesn't control it. Or wasps that control cockroaches with toxins injected into the brain.
I was certain I had seen this story on Slashdot before, but I can't find it now......but it's mentioned in the comments.
Qxe4
I've seen this on the discovery channel. I almost wish I had this stuff in my backyard every spring to kill off the new hoards of ants.
Title of the article is "'Zombie ants' controlled by parasitic fungus for 48m years". Of course, the news is that we have just discovered it isn't new :-)
Here's a medical one
welcome our fungal mind-controlling overlords!
I'd love to change the world, but I'm reading 10 year old second-hand knowledge on slashdot. Really, if you're reading slashdot and didn't have this knowledge fully integrated into your consciousness...head on over to digg.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Equally fascinating and cool... a wasp that paralyzes a caterpillar only to lay larvae in it. The larvae attack the brain and control it forcing the caterpillar to protect them as they grow and eventually cocoon itself in a safe location so they can consume the host's body inside out.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/02/13/parasitic-wasps-got-their-poison-from-an-ancient-virus/
They are rare because the human immune system is very good at preventing/killing actual infections. Yeah some people get some infections in the dead cold parts of their body (athletes foot), but for most people it's quite rare. Yes, females get vaginal fungal infections, but it's really just a colonization of a part that's connected to the outside (bladder). The few times actual fungal infection are seen in people who are really screwed up - immune disorders (AIDS, etc).
Toxoplasmosis is not a fungus, but a protozoan (single cell creature) parasite, fungus is in the plant kingdom.
Consider any viral infection in humans, a virus hardly even being an organism, that cause behavioral changes and forces the human to seek out large groups of fellow individuals (hospitals), only to involuntarily spray them with bodily fluids (vomiting, diarrhea).
And it isn't true that there aren't more of the fungus, like the article claims. Planet Eart clearly states that there are thousands. And I believe that an ant has a fairly simple cortex, allowing simple chemical influences to make it go up, left, right, to the sun, bite, etc.
When you have unlimited noise and only select the bits that makes for a good breeding ground for a fungus, anything possible that CAN happen, WILL happen. See - Murphys law accurately describes the principles of life!
Neither "controlled" the host, it is blind evolutionary luck.
There's no such thing as non-"blind lucky" evolution.
Or, from the opposite PoV, there's no luck in large numbers.
With a large enough number of ants, spores and years, you're bound to get a fungus that makes the ant write Hamlet.
this is news how? This is already been out there for YEARS....wtf
...is obviously giving the ants tiny red crowbars.
More of the same stuff in here:
http://listverse.com/2009/07/29/10-fascinating-cases-of-mind-control/
If you combine the oatmeal and the onion, you will get the onionmeal. I wonder if that is the same as cornmeal. Hahahaha
Thousands (Millions) of flies cover the leaves of a big tree, all 'glued' to the leaves by the mycelia
When I first learned about mud dauber wasps and how they fed their young I said "Holy crap, that's where they got the idea for Alien." Similarly I realized the inspiration for the Blob when I learned of ameobae. When I read about zombie ants and saw the video of the fruiting bodies I couldn't believe nobody used this as a movie monster threat yet. Person gets infected with death fungus, behavior becomes erratic and violent until he dies. Once the body collapses the fruiting bodies burst forth and anyone who comes near risks infection. You have the fear factor of violent craziness that's the equal of any Romero movie along with the contagion factor of the spore-covered corpses.
Could you imagine the terror of going into a city hit with the death fungus? Spore dust everywhere worse than pollen in the deep south, scientists picking their way through in hazmat suits. Human-shaped lumps all over the place, limbs twisted in horror and pain. And then from around the corner comes a late-bloomer, infected but still live and moving, screaming obscenities while trying to hit the scientist with a pipe.
And you can come up with an easy explanation for where this shit came from. Government weapons lab wanted something a bit more effective than anthrax. What if dosing the enemy soldier didn't just kill him but turned him into a weapon that killed other soldiers before he died? And he also becomes a mobile factory for producing more biological agent to boot. Only they miscalculated just how effective this weaponized fungus would be.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Those parasites weren't controlling him though, he was still in complete control.
A closer analogy would be the brain slugs that turn up from time to time.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Neither "controlled" the host, it is blind evolutionary luck.
There's no such thing as non-"blind lucky" evolution.
Or, from the opposite PoV, there's no luck in large numbers.
With a large enough number of ants, spores and years, you're bound to get a fungus that makes the ant write Hamlet.
crap. I just squash that ant last week when he crawled onto my keyboard. How was I to know he was trying to write hamlet?
That is pretty damn specific, amazing so simple an organism can induce behavior that complex in an ant
What you miss is that the programming which means the complexity of all organisms is contained within each individual cell. From a computer standpoint one would have to view all life forms as simply a network of computers where for any given network (individual) all computers (cells) have the same programming.
It is just that some of these computers (cells) perform different functions and I guess that would not be much different than one server handling mail while another handles web services, yet they all contain of course (shameless plug!) OpenBSD and the same identical code base.
One cannot conclude that just because one type of network (species) might act in a particular fashion that it is a "simple" network (organism).
Cordyceps subsessilis has at least four (4) imperfect forms, one of which was identified as Tolypocaladium inflatum from which ciclosporin is made.
Even when it comes to size it is totally incorrect to think that because one might require a microscope to study the beast that it is therefore "simple" or "small". The largest living organism on earth is a fungus: Armillaria ostoyea and it covers more than 3.4 square miles and is thousands of years old. It is bigger than an ant and bigger than a whale and perhaps far more complex and far more evolved.
In fact the bible says that when we die God will come to fetch us. Perhaps God is a fungus!
Perhaps it is the ant which is the simple organism!
Well - the ant evolved about 400 million years ago so if the fungus evolved 48 million years ago then it is more evolved than the ant.
Fungus are neither plant nor animal. They are in the 5th kingdom - but from a biological standpoint we are very similar to them.
Since they evolved before us perhaps we evolved from them which would make them our ancestors. We should have respect for our ancestors!
Apparently, toxoplasmosis causes infected rodents to *stop fearing* and avoiding the smell of cat urine, causing the rodents to be more likely to be eaten by cats, completing the cycle by getting the toxoplasma back into cats where they can reproduce. (Rats eat cat turds in the other side of the cycle).
Sorry if you're eating while reading this!
Toxoplasmosis is the reason why pregnant women should not clean out cat litter boxes. It can cause a serious infection in the unborn or newborn baby.
Also, it may cause infected humans to engage in more risky behavior, like driving behavior that leads to increased car accidents. (Or even schizophrenia?)
Heard about it on NPR's Radiolab. Cool show. Get the podcasts.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
If 10 people wash my car without my knowing, then leave a bill without my approving of their service, file a
complaint into a foreign legal jurisprudence that none are competent to use but the most shiester of lawyers and attornies, all is to default me out of my car to be sold at a bogus "blue market value", then what do you have in a Theory other than coerced association and compulsory contract and fraud in commerce?