Mother Nature is not commonly kind . There are creatures , usuallytinycreatures , that will take over a member of another specie . They will invade their host ’s body , their brains , and even their will . They turn their much - larger victims into zombies !
1. Zombie Snails -Induced Vulnerability
The flatwormLeucochloridium paradoxuminfects two different animals in its life , but only controls one of them . It lives its adult life inside birds and its eggs are spread by bird excretion . How does it get inside the birds ? That ’s the horror account . Amber snail eat the egg , which hatch in the snail ’s digestive tract . The larva changes intosporocysts(or broodsacs ) , which elongate and occupy the snail ’s tentacles atop its head . The broodsacs , meet with hundred ofLeucochloridium paradoxum , pulsate and seek light . The snail is helpless to draw in its tentacle , and has lose its power to perceive light and therefore does not hide . The inflated tentacle move like worms , attracting shuttle thatbite off the tentacle . The flatworms then develop into the grownup stage inside the skirt . The escargot , however , is left to break -or to undergothe process again .
2. Zombie Crabs -Slave Governess
A cirripede namedSacculinawants to nest inside a pubic louse . A female Sacculina will look for a place to enter the crab ’s organic structure . When it does , it will leave its shell behind , not need it anymore as it has the crab ! Inside , Sacculina sets up shop , originate tendrils through the Cancer ’s torso and slowly feeding on it . It castrates the crab ( if male ) and effectively turn the crab into a distaff nanny for its young . This make the Phthirius pubis not only unfertile but also uninterested in pairing . The barnacle , on the other hand , bores a hole open in the crab ’s shell bad enough to let maleSacculinain to couple . The zombi crab treats theSacculinaeggs and larvae as its own , having lose the will to do anything but serve its parasite master . range credit : Hans Hillewaert .
3. Zombie Caterpillars -Slave Bodyguard
Glyptapantelesis a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant that lay its egg in the body of a caterpillar . This is a three layered parasitic infection . The white Anglo-Saxon Protestant engage the help of avirus , or more accurately a polydnavirus that has been genetically modifiedby the wasps , to incapacitate the caterpillar ’s immune organisation , allowing the wasp eggs to survive . The relationship between the wasps and the computer virus is mutually beneficial ; only the caterpillars get the short conclusion of the stick . The eggs hatching and feed on the caterpillar , but do not obliterate it . alternatively , the cat stops developing and spends the ease of its life history protect the wasp larva , even give out as far as spin its own cocoon around the wasp pupa . view avideoof the entire appendage . When the adult wasp come forth from its cocoon , the zombie caterpillar finally try out the perfumed loss of last .
4. Zombie Grasshoppers -Induced Suicide
The bloodsucking hairwormSpinochordodes telliniiis deathly to grasshopper . Once eaten by a hopper or cricket , the larval worm producesproteinsthat affect the dirt ball ’s brainiac and nervous organisation . By the time the worm reach adulthood , the insect is completely under its power . The zombie hopper give suicide by jumping into water , where the worm will emerge and wait for a better half .
5. Zombie Fish -Luring Its Killer
The parasitic wormEuhaplorchis californiensisinfects three other coinage in a hertz , and alters the behaviour of two of them . First , the egg are consumed by horn snails . While living inside a escargot , sometimes for several generation , Euhaplorchisinhibits the snail’sfertility . The sponge will eventually leave the snail and infect the gills of a killifish . The worms will surround the fish ’s brain and cause it to float near the surface and joggle around . This make the fish more potential to be eat by a bird , which is whatEuhaplorchiswanted in the first place . The digestive system of a boo is where the dirt ball set its eggs , which are excreted onto the beach where snails can reach them .
6. Zombie Ants -Serving the Impostors
Even butterflies can make other species into zombies!Maculina rebeli , a European butterfly , lie eggs that exude the perfume of ant queens . Worker ant welcome them into their colony . The butterflies come forth as Caterpillar which are fed by the ant . The ants treat them as their own young , or evenbetterthan ordinary ant larvae since they comprehend the caterpillars to be queen ant larvae . Worker pismire will even fight the caterpillars against their own faggot ! You may opine of ants as zombies already , but they ordinarily only dish up their own species .
7. Zombie Fish Tongue -Artificial Organ
Cymothoa exiguais a small crustacean found off the slide of California . You do n’t have to worry about it unless you are a spotted lift snapper . C. exiguainvades the sassing of these Pisces and grabs onto the base of the tongue , crimp off the blood supply and tope it . As the tongue atrophy , the fish begins to use the little isopod as areplacement natural language . Meanwhile , C. exigualives its life inside the fish ’s sassing , drink blood and Pisces slime from the tongue ’s dais . Other than the loss of its tongue , the fish suffer little from the experience , so the two can share a normal , if creepy , lifespan .
8. Zombie Cockroach -Commandeered Nursery
TheEmerald Cockroach Wasp(Ampulex compressa ) piddle a striver out a much declamatory roach . The wasp will sting the roach twice , paralyse its front peg and use up the escape valve reflex aside from its brain . Then the wasp will chew off half of the R-2 ’s antennae and uses what ’s leave to steer the forget me drug to a prepared nest . The wasp place an egg on the Mexican valium ’s abdomen and leaves . The egg will brood and feed in off the roach , which still wo n’t seek to escape . The wasp larvae keeps the teachable forget me drug alive long enough to build a cocoon inside the Mexican valium ’s trunk and transform into an adult wasp . An adult female wasp can enslave and put down testicle onseveral twelve zombie roach .
Update : Also see the continuation to this post,7 More Zombie Animals
