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I recently saw caio 's post on Zombie Ants and it reminded me of this video I saw a while back. Be sure to watch till the end, the caterpillar stockholm syndrome ending is amazing. Poor caterpillar.
The middle part of the video was, ah, let's say really uncomfortable to watch, but the last bit was fascinating. I didn't think it was possible for a virus to fundamentally change specific things about an organism's behavior. It's mind control! I would be really interested in finding out the specifics of how that works.
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thenewgreen · 5072 days ago · link ·
It was really uncomfortable wasn't it? It's great that reality trumps fiction in the realm of amazement, wonder, horror...and well, all things really. I couldn't find the specifics about how it changes the caterpillars behavior. -if YOU do, let me know, I'm certainly interested.
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It seems no one yet knows. A hypothesis is that a couple of larvae stay behind and infect the host's brain while the others mature.
One or two of the parasites migrate to the ant's brain, where they encyst and are believed to affect the ant's behaviour. These so-called brainworms are not transmitted, and appear to be sacrificed to enable transmission of their kin. If the parasitoid larvae of the system described here also stay behind to manipulate the host and do not pupate later, this would represent a cost of host manipulation: some offspring are sacrificed for higher survival of their kin. This hypothesis needs further investigation. http://tinyurl.com/6ge45ga
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thenewgreen · 4967 days ago · link ·
Glad you liked it. The first time I watched it, it creeped me out. Facinating stuff.
thenewgreen · 5074 days ago · link ·
Here is Caio's post on those pesky Zomby Ants: http://hubski.com/pub?id=5423