When the egg hatches, the larva slowly devours its host. Being a zombie, this cockroach never tries to fight back or escape. This scenario is so creepy that biologists named a similar wasp Ampulex dementor — after a supernatural enemy in the Harry Potter series. This leaves the victim alive but without a self or soul. Although A. The mother jewel wasp performs something like brain surgery.
Once found, she then injects a zombifying venom. This shows that the wasp can sense the right place to inject its poison. This chemical helps the cockroach stay alert, walk and perform other tasks.
When researchers injected a substance similar to octopamine into zombie cockroaches, the insects again began walking. Libersat cautions, however, that this is likely just one piece of the puzzle. A single fish may have thousands of these worms living on the surface of its brain. The wormier the brain, the more likely the fish is to behave strangely. An infected fish will still eat normally and stay in a group with its pals. But it also tends to dart toward the surface, twist its body around or rub against rocks.
All of these actions make it easier for birds to see the fish. This parasite can only reproduce inside a bird. Infected fish are 10 to 30 times more likely to get eaten.
So far, it seems that zombie fish may be less stressed out than their normal cousins. Researchers know what chemical changes should happen to a killifish brain when something, such as the sight of a bird on the prowl, stresses it out.
Her group plans to analyze the chemicals in the brains of infected fish, then try to recreate the zombie effect in normal fish. Zombie mind control is a complicated matter. Scientists have found fossil evidence of fungus-controlled ants dating back 48 million years. But scientists are starting to catch up. Figuring out the secrets of zombie mind control in bugs could help neuroscientists understand more about the links between the brain and behavior in people.
Eventually, this work could lead to new medicines or therapies for human brains. By Kathryn Hulick October 27, at am. A cobra? A zombie snake? After widespread media attention, Katie Hall, a spokeswoman for North Carolina State Parks and Recreation, clarified that the mostly-harmless snakes were more "adorable" than dangerous. That same year, a similar situation happened in Florida: Bart the "zombie" cat apparently dug its way out of a grave after a collision with a car, WTSP-TV reported.
In both cases, the people who buried the injured animals thought they were dead, the reports say. Facebook Twitter Email. There are many 'zombie' animals. Here's which ones you should actually worry about. Show Caption. Those plants can then spread prions through their leaves, Larsen said. And every year, we see more and more cases of chronic wasting disease. So far, the only evidence scientists have of spread beyond hoofed mammals, like deer, is indirect. In lab experiments, scientists have shown that the disease can spread in squirrel monkeys and mice that carry human genes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
In a recently published study , researchers found that chronic wasting disease prions infected human cells in a petri dish. The only way to make prions noninfectious is by using lye , a strong alkaline solution that drastically changes the pH balance, and autoclaving — or pressure-treating them — at degrees Fahrenheit.
Well, we only know where chronic wasting disease was. But animals can carry the pathogens for years and not show any signs or symptoms. As of January , counties in 24 states had reported chronic wasting disease in free-ranging deer, the CDC reported. You can see them here:. Again, though, researchers think the range of spread is much broader. The CDC has also noted that some states have better animal disease surveillance systems than others, so the current map may be more a reflection of where detection is strongest and of past disease than where the deadly prions are currently spreading in the US.
It can also take days or weeks to get results. Along with Osterholm, Jeremy Schefers, a veterinary diagnostician at the University of Minnesota, was recently entreating lawmakers in his state for research funding to develop better diagnostic tools and help scientists answer basic questions about chronic wasting disease.
Other parasites and diseases that cause animals to act like zombies are passed through bites or bodily fluids.
Chronic wasting disease, which affects an animal's brain and central nervous system, is one such example. This type of transmission often appears in fictional stories, like the movies "I Am Legend" and "28 Days Later. Read more: ' Zombie deer disease' has now hit 24 US states. You could be eating infected meat without knowing it.
The Massopora fungus contains psychoactive compounds and rapidly consumes infected cicadas' butts, abdomens, and genitals. Despite that, the insects' libido skyrockets, and they "try to mate with everything they encounter," the researchers said. Zombie deer disease affects an animal's brain and nervous system. Infected animals' bodies waste away as they lose weight at a rapid pace, and they eventually begin to stumble around confused, drooling and listless — hence the zombie moniker.
Although no deer-to-human transmission has been reported yet, experts are concerned that it could happen. Other neurodegenerative prion diseases have affected humans in the past. Mad cow disease is one example, as is a disease called "kuru" that spread among the Fore people, an indigenous tribe in Papua New Guinea, during the s and s. The Fore were known to ritually prepare and eat the brains of deceased relatives, but that sparked a kuru outbreak, according to NPR. The disease seemed to spread from infected brain tissue.
People who contracted the disease lost the ability to control their limbs and bodily functions. Rabies is a viral disease typically transmitted by the bite of an infected animal. It spreads when an infected creature's spit gets into another animal's blood, eyes, nose, or mouth. Rabies starts off rather innocuously with flu-like symptoms, but it can become fatal.
If left untreated, the virus causes swelling in the body's central nervous system the brain and spine , which leads to more severe physical symptoms, including paralysis, seizures, and muscle spasms that can cause unusual postures. As the virus progresses, it causes animals to behave abnormally and impairs their balance and coordination. They hyper-salivate and have trouble breathing and swallowing. Sometimes, rabies-infected creatures will act aggressively or even mutilate themselves.
Raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, and some bat species can carry rabies. These animals can pass it to dogs, cats, and even humans.
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