The infamous mushrooms from the HBO series and the games in the “The Last of Us” series are reality – for animals: Cordyceps and Gibellula.
The cover image is a symbolic image.
Are there fungi that infect and control humans? First of all: We are safe. Humans are not part of the menu of the mushroom species presented here – but they attack animals and lead to really scary disfigurements. The Times, for example, reports on this.
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The archenemy of insects: muscle-controlling fungi
Who do the mushrooms attack? The fungus that forms the template for the species found in The Last of Us is Cordyceps. In reality, it infects ants or other insects and uses them as a mobile platform. He dissolves them internally and allows the dying host to carry him to higher levels like leaves on tree branches. According to the latest research, the fungus controls the ant directly by manipulating the muscles.
This is where the animal dies and the fungus slowly but surely emerges from the carcass. After a while, the spores from the tip of the mushroom pour out over the surrounding area. This is how the parasite reproduces and in this way regulates the populations in the insect kingdom.
You can find these and other interesting cases of multicellular fungi that act far more cleverly than we would think of such simple creatures in the following YouTube video. Some also target mice because their final target is cats.
Cordyceps are also found in Europe, but only rarely. Another genus of zombie fungus has now been rediscovered in Europe, more precisely in Scotland.
What was discovered in Scotland? Gibellula is the name of the subspecies of fungus that targets spiders. The principle is identical to the Cordyceps procedure. If you want to see some examples of overgrown spiders that could easily appear in The Last of Us, you can find them here on YouTube. However, Gibellula has recently been found quite rarely, as Ecologist.org reports. But scientists suspect that we will see his works more often in our forests again in the future.
The rare occurrence is blamed on acid rain in the 20th century. Thanks to the increasingly clean air in Europe, conditions are now proving to be more favorable for fungi such as Gibellula and Cordyceps. But don’t worry: there is no risk of the virus jumping to humans as hosts for reproduction.
The Last of Us Part 2 undoubtedly tells a heartbreaking story, anything less would be an understatement. But some players clearly had problems separating between role and actor. Some negative emotions boiled over to such an extent that unusual measures became necessary: One actress now even needs more security because her character is so hated by fans.