Zombie apocalypse... for ants!

[jgm219]

According to researchers, they may not be dead but they sure act like mindless zombies. And that's before the fungus kills them. Don't know why but I found this interesting.

Zombie Fungus Infecting Ants In Brazil - Gearlog

[Paletiger13]

Cute lol

[jgm219]

lol I couldn't quite wrap my mind how really zombie (undead definition) this was but I thought maybe someone could. The stalk thing growing out of the head after death is weird though.

[JAB]

lol I couldn't quite wrap my mind how really zombie (undead definition) this was but I thought maybe someone could. The stalk thing growing out of the head after death is weird though.

Well, they did mention '28 Days Later' in the article so I guess they are talking more about the newer 'infected, mindless but still living' type of so-called 'zombie' rather than the true, walking dead type.

Bugs are weird critters, anyway. In college, I remember writing a paper about a study that was done on some bugs (was a particular type but I don't remember what they were - and I don't know if the type of bug used made any difference or not.) For the study, they removed the bugs' heads from their bodies. Some of the bugs' decapitated heads were somehow administered a particular chemical/compound regularly. IIRC (it has been a few years since I read the study/wrote the paper) they also regularly administered the same chemical or compound to some of the bugs' now headless bodies. The bodies that received the chemical lived for several days, even without their heads. The heads that received the chemical, on the other hand, lived for several weeks. Freaky.

[jgm219]

Well, they did mention '28 Days Later' in the article so I guess they are talking more about the newer 'infected, mindless but still living' type of so-called 'zombie' rather than the true, walking dead type.

Bugs are weird critters, anyway. In college, I remember writing a paper about a study that was done on some bugs (was a particular type but I don't remember what they were - and I don't know if the type of bug used made any difference or not.) For the study, they removed the bugs' heads from their bodies. Some of the bugs' decapitated heads were somehow administered a particular chemical/compound regularly. IIRC (it has been a few years since I read the study/wrote the paper) they also regularly administered the same chemical or compound to some of the bugs' now headless bodies. The bodies that received the chemical lived for several days, even without their heads. The heads that received the chemical, on the other hand, lived for several weeks. Freaky.

That had to have been worth a few laughs! Sounds almost like some humans I've had contact with.

[East_TN_Patriot]

Yeah, ya beat me to this one. Here's another link to a story at National Geographic.

Photos: "Zombie" Ants Found With New Mind-Control Fungi