The Devil’s Fingers Fungus Is Straight Out Of Alien

do you smell that are those fingers coming out of the ground it's been fun guys but i think the zombie apocalypse is upon us no i'm just playing these are not ghouls but they do smell the way i think zombies might smell these are the weirdest stinkiest fungi on the planet the stink horns [Music] hey guys i'm tasha the amazon and you're watching floralogic and though this show is called floralogic we're actually all about delving into the worlds of both flora and fungi so let's start our expedition into the world of fungi with one of the stinkiest on the planet the aptly named stinkhorn mushroom mushrooms are universally beloved creatures they look adorable they taste delicious they give super mario his powers but the stinkhorn looks so alien and smells so foul you would be forgiven for thinking a demogorgon took a number two in your backyard their smell despite being nauseating to us is a key part of their reproductive success most fungi reproduce asexually by releasing spores which can then grow into another spore producing individual but like plants fungi have a dispersion problem how can they ensure their spores travel as far as possible so that the next generation can colonize new areas most spores are very light and can be picked up by the wind but stink horns took a page out of the tapeworm playbook and adapted to be dispersed by animals this is where the stank comes in all stink horns secrete a substance called gliba which is basically smelly spore jello this gray goop smells like a combination of rotten eggs and putrid meat which is exactly the type of thing flies love to eat the flies will eat up the gliba in less than a day and fly off some fly species can eat over a million spores in one sitting and the majority of those spores will germinate in the fly's digestive tract gleba also has laxative properties so after a day the fly will defecate and the germinated spores will be released the next part of their development is slowly growing into a ball or an egg also called a witch's egg these eggs already contain all the compressed components of a fully grown stinkhorn some species even produce edible eggs the common stinkhorn eggs are said to taste like radish during this stage they're often mistaken for puffball mushrooms but if you open them up you can see a clear difference puff balls are usually uniformly white while a stinkhorn eggs cross section reveals different tissues of different colors and textures after a few months in the egg form they get ready to erect themselves they pump water into the inner tissue and it expands while secreting gliba to attract flies soon after the external structures break down and its life cycle is complete [Music] so starting out as an egg and growing into gliebe gleber-producing structures are the common features of stink horns but the diversity of ways they do this is amazing [Music] the most common one is phallus imputicus or common stinkhorn which gets its name from greek it means immodest phallus and it can grow from a five centimeter wide egg to a 30 centimeter tall phallus in just two days this guy is definitely a grower not a shower despite their amazing biology and diversity stink horns are the bane of gardeners and picnic throwers everywhere they can pop up literally overnight and stink up your entire backyard and there's no fungicides that can prevent the growth of stinkhorns the veiled lady stinkhorn is a weirdly beautiful and apparently delicious fungus it's found worldwide but it's most commonly found in asia where it's used in stir fries and fancy dishes like bird's nest soup [Music] in east asia it's considered an aphrodisiac i wonder why and in mexico and new guinea it's been used in religious ceremonies but the coolest stinkhorn is the devil's fingers this frightening fungus looks like something straight out of the mind of h.r gieger not only do the eggs look like something from alien but when they sprout these massive red tentacle looking bits burst out of the eggs when it's sped up it looks pretty disturbing [Music] just don't put your face too close to it you'll probably be fine but you'll smell like you were juggling rotten skunks the australian anemone stinghorn is like a baby version of the devil's fingers with a few more arms and a deeper pool of gliba this one is kind of cute in pictures except for the weirdly bulbous stock the basket stinkhorn grows like a large woven sphere it can be up to 20 centimeters tall it contains high levels of carotenoids the compounds that make carrots orange but we weren't able to verify that they're as delicious have you ever seen anything that looks like this [Music] and the adorable dog stink horn one of the tiniest stink horns out there looks like something out of a fairy tale except its name doesn't come because pups like it but rather because it resembles a doggy's reproductive organ there are over 70 more species of stink horns we won't go through all of them but if you want to see them and smell them just go for a walk in the woods there's sure to be some in your area and if your day gets ruined by the scent of rotting meat outside your window just remember it's the miracle of life a penis-shaped fungus is making stinky spore soup so that flies will eat it and poop germinated spores in your neighbor's garden so what should we talk about next let me know in the comments and be sure to subscribe for new episodes every week i'm tasha the amazon see you later [Music] you

Channel: Animalogic

Views: 433,528

Keywords: animals, animal, logic, education, crazy, ugly, weird, gross, beautiful, facts, about, information, learning, smart, 4k, nature documentary, nature doc, floralogic, alien, tremors, stranger things, xeno, xenomorph, aliens, egg, burst, facehugger, graboid, kevin bacon, demogorgan, nightmare, scary, stinkhorn, mushroom, fungus, fungi, rotten, smell, stink, stank, octopus stinkhorn, clathrus archeri, spore, devils fingers, devil, fingers, common stinkhorn, veiled lady stinkhorn, horn, basket stinkhorn, zefrank, true facts

Id: v8vaEWSum3k

Length: 6min 38sec (398 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 26 2021