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Fungus Creates Zombie Ants

PostPosted: Mar 10, 2011 5:08 pm
by tncaver
Wonder if this fungus could make it's way to bats as well? At one point the article mentions a white fungus forming in the joints
of the ants. Other insects were seen to grow a fungus as well. Spooky. :yikes:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... ce-brazil/

Re: Fungus Creates Zombie Ants

PostPosted: Mar 10, 2011 9:50 pm
by nathanroser
I kind of have a lot to say, but there are actually a number of behavior altering fungi and other pathogens out there. There's actually a whole group of fungi that each infect the mind of a specific insect, and there's also a rat parasite that makes it attracted to the smell of cat urine so that the rat is more likely to be eaten by a cat, which the parasite completes part of its life cycle inside the cat. And G. Destructans might actually do similar things since some infected bats go and hibernate in colder parts of the caves.

Re: Fungus Creates Zombie Ants

PostPosted: Mar 11, 2011 1:44 am
by self-deleted_user
Maybe GD is making the bats *feel* warm? Hence going to colder parts of the cave? (I"d not heard that bit before) but that could make sense - maybe it just throws their body temp offwhack so they don't know better? And it's not like you can ask a bat "so hey there, I've noticed you flying around in the winter, do you feel warm still or do you feel cold?" unless Dr Doolittle really does exist and speaks bat.