The Zombie Ant

[Faline]

The zombie-ant fungus (Ophiocordyceps) invades an ant's brain and causes it to march to its death at a mass grave where the fungus spores erupt out of its head - but ants have developed a way to fight back.
The ants 'use' another fungus which 'eats' the fungus that turns ants into zombies - saving the colony from extinction.
‘In a case where biology is stranger than fiction, the parasite of the zombie-ant fungus is itself a fungus - a hyperparasitic fungus that specializes in attacking the parasite that turns the ants into zombies,’ Hughes said.





Grooming each other, the ants pass on the 'hyperparasite' to defend the colony.
'The hyperparasitic fungus effectively castrates the zombie-ant fungus so it cannot spread its spores,’ said Hughes, who is an assistant professor of entomology and biology at Penn State.
‘Because the hyperparasitic fungi prevents the infected zombie-ant fungus from spreading spores, fewer of the ants will become zombies.’
Scientists previously had known that ants defend their colonies against microscopic enemies such as fungal spores by efficiently grooming each other.
In this study, the researchers also modeled the effect of ant behavior on limiting infection.
‘Interestingly, beyond the well known effect of defensive ant behavior, our new research reveals the added effect of the castrating actions of the hyperparasite fungi, which may result in significantly limiting the spread of the zombie-ant fungus’ Hughes said.

The scientists report that only about 6.5 percent of the spore-producing organs of the zombie-ant fungus were viable.
‘Even though there are a lot of dead and infected zombie ants in the neighborhood, only a few of the spores of the zombie-ant fungus will become mature and able to infect healthy ants,’ Hughes said.
‘Our research indicates that the danger to the ant colony is much smaller than the high density of zombie-ant cadavers in the graveyard might suggest. This complex interaction between ant colonies, their brain-manipulating parasites, and other fungi capable of lending assistance to the colony underscores the need to study social insects under natural conditions.’
Hughes said his team is expanding its efforts and ‘remains focused on following the exciting theatre played out on the rainforest floor.’

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...es-zombie-ants
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...cience-brazil/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XuKjBIBBAL8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Maoh1349]

For some reason I'm reminded of Resident Evil 4 & 5 O_o XD

[Brometheus]

Originally Posted by Maoh1349

For some reason I'm reminded of Resident Evil 4 & 5 O_o XD

Actually, this video was used as a marketing scheme for Sony/Naughty Dog's upcoming game, The Last of Us.. should be out by the end of the year(end of the world?)

[Sharon]

Cool

[durt]

nature's population controls

[durt]

Human's utilize things like motorcycles and guns to assist nature!