These are not plants and they’re not animals.
They’re fungi and they’re found all over the world.
They come in all shapes and sizes. We even eat some – like the mushrooms on this pizza!
But this one has a deadly desire.
Cordyceps
Crazy Skill: Mind Control
It’s the Cordyceps fungus. And it has the crazy skill of mind control!
In the South American rainforest, the bullet ant is known as a bit of a tough guy.
It has the most painful bite of any insect known to humans… but it’s no match for the Cordyceps.
This poor ant is already infected. A tiny amount of the fungi managed to break through its shell, and has taken control of the ant's brain.
The cordyceps forces the ant to climb, and then to clamp down on the branch, fixing it in place so that it can take root.
Like something from a horror movie, the fungus bursts out of the top of the ant’s head!
Where it continues to grow… and grow… waiting to infect any unlucky ants that happen to pass by.
It’s not just ants that have to watch out for this deadly fungus though.
There are thousands of different types of Cordyceps fungi, with each type attacking a different species…
But thankfully they’re not attacking humans.
Crazy-o-meter
So how crazy is the Cordyceps fungus?
grows on other organisms
It only grows on other organisms…
controls minds and bodies
And it can control their bodies and minds!
That’s pretty crazy!