Taoyuan little fisherman

Chapter 226 Zombie Fungus
If you see one or two, you may still feel it is very novel, but with a large area, the atmosphere is a bit weird.

"Old Wang, let me popularize science for everyone. Is this kind of ant a new species?" Kanye asked without bragging.

Wang Tianhui observed the ants carefully, shook his head and said, "No, this is an ant that died from a fungal infection."

When they heard about the infection, netizens had wild imaginations.

"This stuff won't infect people, right? Old Wang, be careful."

"Is this a fungus that went off the rails or an ant that split the leg?"

"Is this another version of Cordyceps?"

"Can this thing be eaten? Could it be a medicinal material?"

Netizens were discussing it hotly when the gray cysts on the ant's head suddenly exploded in the screen, and spore powder as fine as powder floated down.

The camera shot towards the grass as the spore powder fell, and a happy little ant happened to pass by.

Coincidentally, the spore powder fell on the ants.

While transporting the grass seeds, the busy ants suddenly started to wobble while walking, and couldn't even hold the grass seeds.

There was even a situation where the six legs went their own way, as if a person was drunk.

"Damn, infected? So fast!" A netizen exclaimed in shock.

The little ant stumbled and stepped on an ant that was in a very bad condition. The ant's body was close to withering. It was not shiny at all, and its abdomen was sunken.

Looking carefully, there are many such ants in the grass, all of them are on the verge of dying, slowly climbing towards the tree.

Wang Tianhui turned the camera around and tracked an ant climbing a tree. It climbed very slowly, as if it would fall from the tree at any moment.

It should be very painful to move with its body like this, but it seems to be in a daze, and it desperately climbs up.

After it climbed to a certain height, it began to climb up the branches, finally selected a leaf, and firmly bit the main vein of the leaf with its two palates, and stopped moving.

There are various stages of ants after fungal infection.

There are those who are infected in the early stage like transporting grass seeds, stumbled and exhausted, and some who start to climb trees not far from death, and some who have already grown white mycelium fungus on their bodies, and most of them are spores that mature and continue the infection Feast.

There are constantly passing ants being recruited, and then the process is repeated.

Netizens are dumbfounded.

Da Lang quickly drank the medicine: "Old Wang, why do ants climb up trees after being infected? The ultimate destination of all ants is to bite the leaves and die. Why do they do this? What is the purpose of doing this?"

Wang Tianhui explained: "This is a fungus that existed on the earth 4800 million years ago. It has a terrifying name called zombie fungus. It usually parasitizes ants. After the fungus is infected, it will continue to grow in the body of the ant. , releasing chemicals that affect the behavior of the controlling ants.

The controlled ant loses itself, leaves the ant colony, and begins to search for a living environment suitable for fungi. It no longer has its own behavior and life, and only serves the fungus.

The last stage of their life is also the most painful and terrifying.

In the last few hours of life, zombie ants will crawl to the bottom of the leaves where they are, and bite the central veins of the leaves with their jaws, thus trapping themselves on the leaves, and at the same time, the parasitic fungi are also locked on the leaves , this leaf has become an ant grave.

After the zombie ant dies, the parasitic fungus will sprout from the head of the ant, produce sporangia and release spore powder after maturity, and then infect other ants.

Infected ants will use all their strength to bite the leaves before they die, leaving their last imprint on the world with such force. "

After saying this, Wang Tianhui sighed, what a bunch of miserable ants.

"I'm crying, the little ant is so pitiful."

"May there be no fungus in heaven, and the little ants go well."

"Watching the live broadcast can also see the wonderful nature. It's great to have a long posture!"

……

Liu Xiaozhu looked at the ant grave, feeling a little apprehensive, "Brother Tianhui, can these fungi infect people?"

Wang Tianhui shook his head, "The fungus is very sensitive to temperature. Its activity decreases at 30 degrees, and it is completely extinct when it reaches 37 degrees. It cannot survive in the human body."

Liu Xiaozhu breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm relieved."

The netizen continued to ask: "Is the precious Chinese herbal medicine Cordyceps sinensis a zombie fungus?"

Wang Tianhui explained: "Cordyceps sinensis is also a fungus that infects insects, but it is different. The fungus Cordyceps globosa invades the bat moth larvae that burrow into the soil for the winter, and then eats up the nutrients in its body and parasitizes it. When the temperature is suitable in summer , and the hyphae drill out of the ground from the insect body.

The two are different from the Cordyceps fungus which directly kills the insect body, while the zombie fungus will control the brain of the insect after infection and direct it to find a habitat. Once it finds a suitable place to live, the zombie fungus will kill the insect. "

I'm not Yuan Fang: "Wow, that's scary! Besides ants, can zombie fungi parasitize other organisms?"

Wang Tianhui nodded: "Of course, wasps, flies, and crickets have all been found to be parasitized by zombie fungi."

Da Lang quickly drank the medicine: "Suddenly I don't hate flies so much, it's so hard for small insects to survive."

"Hehe, sister Dalang is really a kind-hearted girl, but don't worry, zombie fungi only survive in specific environments, and it's hard to see them. It's better not to show mercy when dealing with pests."

"Got it! Old Wang, I'm going to get the fly swatter now."

Da Lang drank the medicine and teased for a while, which made everyone laugh.

At this time, Xiaohua came back with a long and thick astragalus, but Wukong has not found anything so far, which made him very anxious.

Xiaohua is very shy to show off to Wukong.

Wukong's face flushed with anxiety, scratching his ears and cheeks.

It does not have the sensitive sense of smell of small flowers, so it can only use its eyes to find Chinese medicine among many plants. The vegetation in Langya Valley is lush, and its eyes are almost blind in the green sea that is about to submerge it.

In order not to continue to be crushed by Xiaohua, Wukong decided to change his strategy.

up the tree!

With a few swishes, he jumped up to the top of the tallest tree, and he had a panoramic view of the forest, sea and grassland.

Suddenly Wukong yelled at the top of the tree, pointed in a certain direction, and shook the branch excitedly.

Meow!
Noisy!

Xiaohua stared, and climbed up the tree in a blink of an eye, wanting to teach Wukong a lesson.

At the top of the tree, Xiaohua's Kazilan's big eyes widened instantly, and she stood upright in surprise.

Wukong also stood up and blocked the little flower behind him.

Xiaohua jumped forward angrily.

Click!

The fragile branches couldn't support Xiaohua's fat body and broke, and the unlucky Wukong was also dragged down by Xiaohua.

Xiao Hua waved her short claws and scratched desperately, and finally one of her claws caught on the broken branch, which made it let out a long sigh of relief.

The 20-meter-high tree is no joke, Liu Xiaozhu screamed in fright.

The comment area is also full of "ahhhhhhhhhh".

(End of this chapter)