Danish scientists have discovered two creepy and deadly fungi that can multiply from their host subjects and devour their bodies, then control the still-alive hosts to fly around, sowing the spores of these fungi and continuing to infect other potential hosts!
Among the most terrifying ways to die in Hollywood blockbusters, the "Alien" series is undoubtedly the most terrifying, and "Prometheus" inherits this series and becomes the most feared way of death after 00, the alien spores enter the body to multiply, and then mature and break out of the body, becoming a lingering nightmare for many children!
Researchers at the Danish Museum of Natural History and the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences at the University of Copenhagen have actually found two horrible fungi in nature that break out of the body after spore infection!
These two fungi are Strongwellsea acerosa and Strongwellsea tigrinae, they infect the object of the fly, after infection these fungi will multiply in large numbers in the fly, the whole abdomen will become dry, because all the tissue fluid is absorbed by the fungus, but at this time the fly will not die, but will continue to buzz and fly!
Because the hormones secreted by fungi have a stimulant-like effect, even if the flies no longer eat, they will use up the last drop of energy in the body under the action of the stimulant to continue to fly, and make a mating-like behavior, trying to sow this death-causing spore in other flies!
The fungus will tear open two large holes in the abdomen of flies after it matures, like the bomber's bomb magazine, always in an open state, and during the flight, these spores are fired outward like torpedoes, and whoever falls on them is who is unlucky!
How do I catch the next fly?
This buzzing fly spreads these death spores all the way, if it falls on another fly, the spores will be contaminated with cuticles, and swing to the abdomen, and then enter the body of the fly to begin a theory of death reproduction, the infected fly will undoubtedly die, and the whole abdomen of the fly is the fungus's grain warehouse, in the last few hours of death, this fly that has lost its nutrient source will fall from the air to the ground and convulse constantly, and finally die!
In addition, these spores can survive the cold Danish winter and continue to infect the next batch of flies in the second year of recovery, although the fly is a very annoying insect, but this terrible process is really creepy!
Extended reading: The "zombie cicada" under the control of fungi: even if the abdomen is gone, mating will not stop!
On June 18, 2020, researchers at West Virginia University published a paper in PLOS Pathogens to the effect that they found a zombie cicada with a gray and dry abdomen that could get out of its body with a light touch, but the cicadas were still flying, and they were constantly looking for another cicada to make mating movements!
What the hell are they doing?
PhD researcher Brian Lovett said that these cicadas were infected with a fungus called Martensporium, after which the fungus would slowly devour the cicada's genitals as well as the buttocks and abdomen, but before the entire abdomen fell off, receiving the influence of hormones secreted by the fungus, these cicadas would behave more aggressively than normal!
These "petrified" cicadas with "petrified" abdomen will fly everywhere, and look for possible "mating" objects, and perform crazy behaviors just to spread the spores of this fungus on a larger scale and infect other healthy cicadas on a larger scale! Researchers say that the hormone that makes cicadas perform this behavior is called "psilocybin" hallucinogen!
Its powerful hallucinogenic effect can even make people lose, of course, more people try the "psilocybin" hallucinogenic agent for the strange feeling of the hallucinogenic moment, but for the cicada, it is the price of death! Psilocybin hallucinogenic agents can make them "happy" to meet death!
In addition to these, there are fungal-infected fruit flies that will fly to the tall branches of the plant before death, and then grow flower-like spore strains on their bodies, spreading spores, and the spores that fall higher than the fallen may infect more fruit flies, which is absolutely frightening!
There is also a kind of zombie ant, the fungus infected ant behavior is not controlled by itself, it is completely a fungal infected body, they will climb up the plant, use pliers to get under the leaves, and then hang there all the time!
Researchers at Penn State University have found through research that zombie ants are full of fungi, including the head, chest, abdomen and legs, but the fungus does not seem to control the ant's movement through the head, it seems to be through the direct control of muscles, this behavior is more hairy upside down, what is more terrifying than the horror scene of hands and feet not listening to the call and acting on their own!
The bad news is that there are many fungi in nature that survive in this way, and even more disgusting parasites, the good news is that they do not seem to infect humans, of course, there are still many ways to deal with fungi humans, but they cannot be completely eliminated, such as beriberi is caused by fungi, but it has been plaguing humans!