{"id":862,"date":"2011-03-03T19:55:17","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T09:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862"},"modified":"2011-03-03T19:56:08","modified_gmt":"2011-03-03T09:56:08","slug":"brazillian-zombie-ants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862","title":{"rendered":"Brazillian zombie ants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Some recent work has discovered a fungus that infects carpenter ants, turning them into zombies.\u00a0The study appears online in the journal\u00a0<em><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0017024\" target=\"_blank\">PLoS One<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Evans HC,\u00a0Elliot SL,\u00a0Hughes DP,\u00a02011\u00a0Hidden Diversity Behind the Zombie-Ant Fungus\u00a0<em>Ophiocordyceps unilateralis<\/em>: Four New Species Described from Carpenter Ants in Minas Gerais, Brazil.\u00a0PLoS ONE\u00a06(3): \u00a0e17024.\u00a0doi:10.1371\/journal.pone.0017024<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The ants are infected by\u00a0the parasitic fungus <em>Ophiocordyceps unliateralis <\/em>living on four species of carpenter ant (<em>Camponotini sp<\/em>.) in the Zona da Mata region of Brazil and enter a zombie like state within a week. \u00a0Each species of fungus is different in size and shape, and adapted to live only in one particular species.<\/p>\n<p>The zombie or brain-manipulating fungus alters the\u00a0behavior\u00a0of the ant host, causing it to die in an exposed position, typically clinging onto and biting the adaxial surface of shrub leaves, where the conditions are ideal for the fungus to propagate.<\/p>\n<p>The fungus then grows out of the head of the ant, releasing spores into the air, which rain down onto unsuspecting ants and the forest floor.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_863\" style=\"width: 295px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-863\" href=\"http:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?attachment_id=863\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-863\" class=\"size-full wp-image-863\" title=\"zombie ant\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/zombie-ant.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"285\" height=\"190\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-863\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The fungus grows out of the head of the dead ant, releasing spores into the air (David Hughes)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0specter\u00a0of a similar fungus with mammals is the stuff of nightmares or\u00a0horror\u00a0films.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus  grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[159,161,142,160],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","tag-ants","tag-brazil","tag-fungi","tag-zombie","czr-hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.0.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 5.0.0.1\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wild and Woolly | Occupational Hygiene - and Ideas\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wild-and-Woolley.png\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wild-and-Woolley.png\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-03T09:55:17+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-03-03T09:56:08+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wild-and-Woolley.png\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#article\",\"name\":\"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly\",\"headline\":\"Brazillian zombie ants\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?author=3#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/#person\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/wordpress\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/zombie-ant.jpg\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862\\\/#articleImage\",\"width\":285,\"height\":190,\"caption\":\"The fungus grows out of the head of the dead ant, releasing spores into the air (David Hughes)\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-03T19:55:17+10:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-03T19:56:08+10:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized, ants, Brazil, fungi, zombie\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?cat=1#listItem\",\"name\":\"Uncategorized\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?cat=1#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncategorized\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?cat=1\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#listItem\",\"name\":\"Brazillian zombie ants\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Brazillian zombie ants\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?cat=1#listItem\",\"name\":\"Uncategorized\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/#person\",\"name\":\"David Bromwich\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#personImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b95a4b8562be54c8b766757dc9e19aaf5bd9c83ce051490cda1caf3077fc8e68?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"David Bromwich\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?author=3#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?author=3\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dbaa9fe1c0960938d10f73a45ec32fd7403e987878d09a42c397c59a61da66f2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"admin\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862\",\"name\":\"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly\",\"description\":\"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?p=862#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?author=3#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/?author=3#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-03T19:55:17+10:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-03T19:56:08+10:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Wild and Woolly\",\"description\":\"Occupational Hygiene - and Ideas\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.dbohs.com\\\/#person\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly","description":"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.","canonical_url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#article","name":"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly","headline":"Brazillian zombie ants","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?author=3#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/#person"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/zombie-ant.jpg","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862\/#articleImage","width":285,"height":190,"caption":"The fungus grows out of the head of the dead ant, releasing spores into the air (David Hughes)"},"datePublished":"2011-03-03T19:55:17+10:00","dateModified":"2011-03-03T19:56:08+10:00","inLanguage":"en-US","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#webpage"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized, ants, Brazil, fungi, zombie"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?cat=1#listItem","name":"Uncategorized"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?cat=1#listItem","position":2,"name":"Uncategorized","item":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?cat=1","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#listItem","name":"Brazillian zombie ants"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#listItem","position":3,"name":"Brazillian zombie ants","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?cat=1#listItem","name":"Uncategorized"}}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/#person","name":"David Bromwich","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#personImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b95a4b8562be54c8b766757dc9e19aaf5bd9c83ce051490cda1caf3077fc8e68?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"David Bromwich"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?author=3#author","url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?author=3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dbaa9fe1c0960938d10f73a45ec32fd7403e987878d09a42c397c59a61da66f2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"admin"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#webpage","url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862","name":"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly","description":"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?author=3#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?author=3#author"},"datePublished":"2011-03-03T19:55:17+10:00","dateModified":"2011-03-03T19:56:08+10:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/","name":"Wild and Woolly","description":"Occupational Hygiene - and Ideas","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/#person"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Wild and Woolly | Occupational Hygiene - and Ideas","og:type":"article","og:title":"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly","og:description":"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.","og:url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862","og:image":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wild-and-Woolley.png","og:image:secure_url":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wild-and-Woolley.png","article:published_time":"2011-03-03T09:55:17+00:00","article:modified_time":"2011-03-03T09:56:08+00:00","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Brazillian zombie ants | Wild and Woolly","twitter:description":"Brazilian carpenter ants become zombies when infected with a parasitic fungus that causes the ant to cling to an exposed surface. The ants dies and the fungus grows through their head to fall on other ants on the ground, to repeat the cycle.","twitter:image":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/Wild-and-Woolley.png"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"862","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"Article","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":null,"schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2021-02-26 00:16:45","updated":"2026-01-17 15:55:04","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null,"focus_keyword":null,"additional_keywords":null,"truseo_locale":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?cat=1\" title=\"Uncategorized\">Uncategorized<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tBrazillian zombie ants\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com"},{"label":"Uncategorized","link":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?cat=1"},{"label":"Brazillian zombie ants","link":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/?p=862"}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions\/867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dbohs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}