What Causes Zombie Ants

The deadly parasite’s grand finale involves sending toxic spores blooming from the dead ant’s head. Deep in the Amazon rainforest, parasitic fungi called take over ants’ bodies in order to reproduce.

What causes ants to become zombies?

The fungus is what turns the ants into zombies. Fungi produce little seed‒like particles called spores. If an ant gets infected by one, the fungus hijacks its brain. … Once in ideal locations, the ants bite down on the leaf’s vein and the fungus grows hyphae, or fungal threads, throughout their bodies.

Are zombie ants a real thing?

In a study published by Pennsylvania State University researchers in the Journal of Experimental Biology, scientists revealed that there is such a thing as “zombie” ants—but they’re not what we think. Basically, there’s a certain kind of fungus that uses carpenter ants as hosts, until they die and eventually decompose.