Little Biology: Zombie Parasites
Big Biology
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How a Fungus Controls an Ant's Mind?
The parasitic takeover begins when a carpenter ant comes across fungus for us while foraging. After about a week, the fungus manipulates the ant to abandon its day job and leave the nest. It then forces it to climb a plant to a very precise height - called 'the death grip' Researchers found fungus throughout the muscles that powered the ant's mandibles, but not in the brain. What we think of tis mind control never actually involves the brain. Instead, the fungus invades muscle bundles and encircles muscle fibres.
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