Ant Loses Its Head Over Mushrooms

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 Ant Loses Its Head Over Mushrooms


Mycologist Thomas Hartung tells this bizarre tale about ants and a certain mushroom that grows in the forests of Appalachia and Asia…


The spore of the mushroom - a parasitic one - attaches itself to the head of an ant. The ant then grows a mushroom through its head. As it moves about and climbs trees, the ant might then  spread the mushroom’s spores far and wide in the wind. Though it marks the demise of the ant, which turns zombie-like and dies, this process ensures the survival of the mushroom species.

 

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