Can zombie ants really still move after death?

Scientists from Harvard University in the United States recently discovered evidence of the oldest "zombie ants" on Earth: a fungus that lived 48 million years ago was able to change and control the behavior of ants by releasing chemicals, turning them into its own puppets until the ants eventually died. Now let us take a look together at whether zombie ants can still move after death!

Can zombie ants still move after death?

Zombie ants cannot move after death; what moves is the fungus parasitic inside their bodies. The zombie fungus still survives on Earth and usually parasitizes wood ants. A "zombie ant" controlled by the fungus no longer has its own behavior or life, and the final stage of its life is also the most painful and terrifying. In the last few hours of its life, the "zombie ant" will crawl to the underside of the leaf it is on and use its mandibles to bite firmly onto the central vein of the leaf, trapping itself to death on the leaf. At the same time, the parasitic fungus is also locked onto the leaf, and this leaf becomes an "ant grave."

The infection process of the zombie fungus

The zombie fungus resides in the brain of the zombie ant and "directs" the dying ant to find a leaf or another stable area to settle down, thereby obtaining a stable "nursery." When the zombie fungus is ready to kill the ant, the ant will bite madly at anything at the position where it stands. This fungus has very strong attachment, and even if the dead zombie ant is turned upside down, they can still remain motionless. After the ant dies, the fungus quickly spreads spores throughout the entire corpse. The fungus rapidly consumes the nutrients inside the zombie ant's body and at the same time begins to establish a "colony" outside the body.

The fungus that saves ants from the zombie fungus

Scientists have discovered a fungus that can save these poor ants, a fungus capable of castrating the "zombie fungus" -- an "anti-'zombie fungus' fungus." This hyperparasitic fungus can parasitize the "zombie fungus" and destroy the vast majority of the "zombie fungus" spores, leaving only about 6.5% of the spores able to survive. Therefore, even if there is a large group of zombie ants nearby, the remaining healthy ants will rarely become infected.