Here are a few animals that make actual zombies
in nature! 7 - What’s that on your head? This real life zombie maker takes us to the
jungles where a fungus called...I hope I’m saying this right, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis,
terrorize ants, cockroaches and butterflies. A fungus that invades bodies?! Yup, this exists in nature! But it’s the ants who have an especially
difficult time dealing with this. This devious fungus has figured out a way
to invade ants’ bodies and take over their minds. Once an infection is underway, the fungus
completely takes over. It effectively stops the ant from controlling
its limbs. When the fungus infects an ant, it grows through
the insect’s body, essentially draining it of nutrients and takes over its mind. The fungus gets the ant to leave the safety
of its nest and climb a nearby plant. It stops the ant at around a height of 10
inches, which is the area with the right temperature and humidity for the fungus to grow. It then forces the ant to permanently lock
its mandibles around a leaf! Eventually, it sends a long stalk through
the ant’s head, growing into a bulbous capsule full of its spores! This is great because the ant typically climbs
a plant that’s close to or overhangs its colony’s foraging trails. That way, the fungal spores rain down onto
other ants below, and the process begins again! The worst part? Research has shown that the ant is essentially
a prisoner in its own body. Its brain is still fully functioning in the
driver’s seat, but the fungus is controlling the wheel! Before we go on to the next zombie making
animal, do us a favor and hit the like button, right here! 6 - Let’s see check out those birds
If it were easier to pronounce, Leucochloridium would make a great subject for a horror film. Not only does it sound ominous, but it’s
actually a terrifying part of Mother Nature. This parasitic worm is a snail’s worst nightmare. Here’s how the entire bizarre sequence plays
out. The worm invades a snail through its eyestalks. It then proceeds to pulsate the snail’s
stalks as crazy as that sounds, making the snail’s eyes seem like they’re caterpillars. The worm then gets the snail to go out into
the open where birds swoop down and pluck out the snail’s eyeballs! What! This horrendous process is called Aggressive
Mimicry in nature, and it would kind of be like if an alien invaded one of us, made us
disguise ourselves as a Zebra and just walk towards a pride of lions. Anyways, once inside the bird’s digestive
system, the worm breeds in its guts. Its eggs are eventually crapped out of the
bird, and eaten by another snail who didn’t seem to notice that his friends have been
acting a bit like zombies lately. Unfortunately, this isn’t the worst thing
to happen on this list! 5 - Crab’s worst nightmare? Hold on, barnacles can turn things into zombies
too?! Well…...okayyyy. Apparently sacculina is a body snatching barnacle
that takes over crabs! They absorb their nutrition for themselves,
impairing the crab’s growth, all while using the crab’s shell for protection. And oh yeah. One more thing. They also make these crabs infertile! Sacculina belongs to a class of parasites
known as parasitic castrators, which actually isn’t as bad as it sounds. Technically, that term just describes any
parasite that blocks the reproductive function of its host for their own selfish gain. So how do these barnacles infest a crab host? The sacculina larva finds a crab and looks
for a joint to literally inject themselves into the crab. The Sacculina grows in the crab and then emerges
as a sac on the underside of the crab's rear thorax! Does this sound like Aliens yet?! I mean, this parasite will take over the crab’s
intestines, reproductive system, and even the central nervous system so they can control
the crab! When a female Sacculina is implanted in a
male crab, it’ll interfere with the male crab's hormonal balance. This sterilizes the crab, and eventually changes
the body of the crab to resemble that of a female crab! The female sacculina then forces the male
crab to act like a female crab. They’ll get the male crab to perform female
mating dances and the male crab will even develop a nurturing behavior typical of a
female crab! Yeah…...I’m extremely happy I’m not
a male crab right now. If you think these animals are bad, then you
definitely will want to watch our video, Animals who are Evil Geniuses! 4 - Another Fun Guy? Ever wonder how fungus spreads? No? Well we’re gonna tell you anyway! Just like pretty much everything else in this
video, it’s pretty bizarre. The amphibian chytrid fungus is a fungal disease
that’s been known to take over amphibians. It spreads by taking over the minds of tree
frogs, and forcing them to work harder in luring potential mates so the fungus can be
spread. Yep, a frog STD! BD, as its referred to, usually just bills
the frogs it infects. In fact, it’s been blamed for the extinction
of entire frog species. But one species of tree frogs in Central Asia,
Japan and Korea has adapted to withstand the fungus….with one major caveat. It makes the males much more likely to mate! A recent study found that infected male Japanese
Tree Frogs were much more energetic with their mating call, making them more likely to attract
a female mate. This is especially odd since the disease makes
the frogs lethargic. However, the male frogs put in much more energy
to put in an increased frequency of higher pitched mating calls. These mating calls are ones that apparently
female tree frogs just can’t resist. Once they get together, the male passes the
disease to the female, and she passes it on to her offspring, and presumably, they grow
up, find a mate, and pass BD on to them. Think there are any Japanese Tree Frogs out
there that didn’t mind this fungus?! 3 - Hole on the side
If you’re a cricket, the last thing you’d ever want to meet is a horsehair worm. Also known as the Gordian Worm, which is an
homage to Alexander the Great and the legendary Gordian Knot, which I guess is what a bunch
of horsehair worms look like. With about 351 species among their ranks,
these worms essentially terrify plenty of arthropods around. These guys lay their eggs in a body of water,
and their hatched larva simply lay at the bottom of the water waiting to be eaten by
the larvae of other insects. Let’s go back to the cricket as an example. Once larva get inside the cricket, they get
into the body cavity and grow in length, often times up to at least a foot long. Oh yeah. They’ll also somehow make a hole on the
side of the cricket in order to look outside! The cricket, unaware that they’ve got ummm
visitors, just goes about doing cricket things. These worms somehow trick the Cricket into
not chirping anymore, making the cricket less likely to get eaten, because that would definitely
disrupt the worm’s plan. One quick thing about crickets. They aren’t awesome at swimming. For one, they haven’t evolved to do so. Secondly, they’re no match for fish, frogs,
or whoever might be looking for a meal. So with that in mind, it’s pretty shocking
to see crickets dive right into the water on occasion. That’s because their brains have been manipulated
by the worm! Not surprisingly this ends the cricket’s
life and the worms emerge through that hole I mentioned earlier, looking to mate. Once they achieve that, they’re ready to
go on to the next life. Yeahhhhhhh….. 2 - You’ll do just fine
Most of us have a healthy fear of wasps because they pack a pretty mean sting, but it’s
not really going to hurt us that bad. As for roaches, it’s a completely different
story. They should keep THEIR distance from jewel
wasps for a very good reason. As it turns out, Jewel Wasps carry a potent
chemical that essentially turns cockroaches into their puppets. Female Jewel Wasps evolved to possess a special
chemical compound that they inject into the Cockroach's brain, effectively turning them
into a zombie! Armed with a powerful neurotoxin, the jewel
wasp only takes takes seconds to take over a roach. The first sting paralyzes the roach, and once
the wasp has control, it injects chemicals into the roach’s brain to control them! Once the mind control part has been achieved,
the cockroach just does what the wasp wants it to. For example, the cockroach will go to great
lengths to groom itself for the occasion…..after all, it IS a dinner party. The wasp will chew off half of each of the
roach's antennae. The wasp, which is too small to carry the
roach, then leads the victim to the wasp's burrow, by pulling one of the roach's antennae
in a manner similar to a leash. In the burrow, the wasp will lay an egg on
the roach's abdomen. It then barricades the burrow entrance with
pebbles and leaves! The roach will simply hangs in the burrow,
waiting for the wasp's egg to hatch after about three days. Over a period of around eight days, the wasp
larva eats the roach in a way that maximizes the likelihood that the roach will stay alive,
at least until the larva enters the pupal stage and forms a cocoon inside the roach's
body. Does this sound like a complete nightmare
yet?! Eventually the fully grown wasp emerges from
the roach's body and begin its adult life. Ughhhhhhhhhhh. What’s the worst way to go on this list?! Let us know in the comment section! 1 - Thanks for the web
And it’s a one-two combination with wasps here! Who has it worse here? A cockroach or a spider? We’ll let you be the judge here! The larva of a ichneumonid wasp is a spider’s
worst nightmare. The wasp lays an egg on the back of an orb
weaver spider, where the larva hatches. The larva then forces the spider to devote
itself to building a safe and sturdy web to serve as a home for the larva’s cocoon. The larva controls the spiders by chemically
turning on a behavior already in the spider’s repertoire, which is the resting web. Spiders build themselves one of these to rest
in when they’re molting. In both the resting and cocoon webs, the sticky,
spiraling threads that make the webs of spiders so appealing to prey are gone. Instead, the spokes of the web remain, decorated
with fibrous spider silk that reflects ultraviolet light. This is highly useful because it stops certain
birds and large insects from flying into the web that can see in the ultraviolet spectrum. So what does the larva do when the cocoon
web is done?! The larva rewards the spider by eating it. Then it settles down to spin itself a cocoon,
lodged in a strong, spider-silk home, where it can transform itself into a wasp. Watch this next video to find out which animals
are Evil Geniuses!
