Cordyceps 1, Ants 1

For years I 've been fascinated by the Cordyceps fungi, a genus of fungi that is most known for, well, something out of a good science-fiction story. Able to penetrate a live host via spores and mycelium, it eventually grows into a fruiting body, often bursting through its still-living host. Many Cordyceps also display a type of body control by forcing the unlucky host into movement dictated by the fungus. All types of little critters can be affected, including tarantulas, grasshoppers, flies, and the mentioned ants.

Well it seems the ants are fighting back, sort of. Tired of this abuse, and certainly tired of being turned into zombies to do the bidding of a fungal overlord, recent studies, including a recent one by the University of Regensburg, Germany show that many ants, once affected, "desert the nest in the hours or even days before they died and made their way to a distant foraging area, where they died alone, away from the other workers. They left voluntarily, and were not forcibly removed by other worker ants." This seemingly selfless act appears to slow/prevent the fungus from spreading to other ants.

Ants have always had an interesting relationship with fungi. Leafcutter ants actually nurture and harvest different types of fungi.

We'll see what comes next. Perhaps this.