This is how the wasp takes complete control over of the cockroach. But it’s not trying
to inject venom or kill it. It wants to… use it for its own purposes while it’s still ALIVE.
In order to leave offspring, the jewel wasp needs someone's life.
Literally. In general, there are about 130 wasp species in the world that use
a similar strategy. Usually, they target various insects like caterpillars and ants,
as well as arachnids. However, this particular wasp has only one purpose.
Yes, the jewel wasp chose a cockroach. And if you think the choice of this insect was random,
you are wrong. Cockroaches are very tough creatures. This is precisely why they become
incubators for this wasp species. But they can’t just attach their larva
to the underside of a cockroach without some preparation. Since the cockroach is
several times larger than the wasp, the latter needs to be careful and stealthy.
To subdue the cockroach, the jewel wasp uses a special venom. At the right moment,
the wasp instantly jabs the cockroach, injecting the venom right into the brain. Moreover,
the wasp targets certain areas of the cockroach brain, which contain neurons responsible for
self-preservation. If they are neutralized, the cockroach will not run away or resist.
A perfect crime! But, as I said, the wasp has no intention of killing the cockroach.
So, the venom has reached its goal and should start working in 20-30 minutes. After waiting
for a while, the wasp approaches the COCKROACH... BITES OFF ITS ANTENNA... AND TASTES ITS BLOOD.
Scientists think this is how the wasp checks that the amount of injected venom is just right.
If it’s not enough, the cockroach will come to its senses ahead of time,
too much venom will kill it. So the jewel wasp only leads the living incubator to its burrow
after making sure everything is going according to the plan.
Why waste energy if the hunt was unsuccessful? The plan is elaborated down to the smallest detail!
So the venom worked. What's next? The cockroach is fully controlled by the wasp.
On the way to the burrow, it’s a little docile, so the wasp helps its victim on its way. And finally,
when the cockroach is in the right place, the wasp needs to attach the larva to the underside
of the cockroach, and the rest doesn’t require the participation of the wasp. The important thing is
not to forget to seal the entrance to the burrow in order to protect your future offspring.
And here you might have a logical question: what will happen when the cockroach comes back to its
senses? What if it gets out of the burrow? Can it be that the wasp’s efforts were in vain?
Well, wasps got it all figured out. The jewel wasp larva takes about 7 days to hatch. Meanwhile,
the effects of a wasp venom last about 10 days - the larva even has some time to spare! But the
poor cockroach doesn't stand a chance. But can a cockroach somehow stop an attack
and avoid becoming a living incubator? In the beginning,
I already said that cockroaches are very tough guys. To fight back, they use... martial arts!
According to the laws of nature, if representatives of a species are often
killed without a chance to fight back, after a while, they learn to struggle and acquire the
necessary skills for that. This is what happened with cockroaches. To keep the wasp from possessing
them, they use four basic defense tactics. First tactic. Best defense is offense.
But it’s dangerous to openly fight such a formidable enemy as a wasp.
It goes in a different way. The cockroach turns its flank to the wasp, hides its head,
stretches its legs and delivers incredibly sharp and hard blows to the opponent's head.
It takes about 5 blows to the head for the wasp to retreat.
Second tactic. Cockroaches are quite agile insects, and in some cases they
make good use of that. When the wasp is about to sting, the cockroach turns around sharply.
Even if the wasp manages to grab its head, the cockroach’s agility gives it a chance
to throw off the enemy. If it’s lucky. Third tactic. Don’t forget about the legs
of a cockroach. See these things? These are spines, and in the world of insects,
they are real weapons. If the wasp has already climbed onto the cockroach, it puts its hind
legs to work. It begins to throw off the wasp and can even kill it using the spines!
And finally, the most reliable tactic. Fleeing. In order not to receive a dose of dangerous venom,
a cockroach... just quickly runs away. Well, if the venom makes its way into the
brain of a cockroach, no martial arts or any other defensive means will help. But what is
this venom made of? Why does an affected cockroach bend to the will of the wasp? Let's find out.
As I said, the venom disables certain neurons in the brain responsible for self-preservation.
When they are active, the cockroach senses fear when seeing a predator,
which causes the insect to flee. But before taking over the mind of the prey, the wasp first
jabs it in the chest area to paralyze the front legs of the cockroach for a while - to stop it
from fighting back or fleeing. The venom, which the wasp then injects into the brain, contains
dopamine-like compounds. They make the cockroach, so to say, feel high and remove all anxiety.
All in all, the cockroach is no longer afraid to die, the fear of death is simply turned off. That
is why it so eagerly follows the wasp and allows it to calmly attach the larva to its underside.
But this venom has another important feature. While the cockroach’s mind is,
let's say, in another dimension, and the body is waiting for death, the venom begins to slow down
its metabolism, prolonging the life of the insect. Its oxygen intake falls sharply for 10 days,
the amount of energy produced begins to drop, most body functions slow down to a minimum or
completely turn off. The body temperature drops, the heart rate slows down...
That’s how the cockroach stays fresh longer and is ready for consumption by the larva.
And yes, remember there are about 130 other wasp species that have a similar strategy.
They all realized that the brain is essentially just neurons that can be turned on or off.
Doesn’t matter whether we are talking about the brain of an insect or the human brain.
This video shows how electrical current can be used to turn off certain parts of the brain.
See? The patient has lost control of his hand! Professor Vincent Walsh uses transcranial
magnetic stimulation to interfere with the man’s ability to move and speak. Of course,
this is not the main purpose of the device. It’s used to stimulate the nerve cells in the brain,
which, in turn, relieves the symptoms of depression and improves mood. To date,
such stimulation is used only when absolutely necessary, when other methods no longer help.
Wasp venom affects the cockroach in a similar way: you’re about to die,
and you just coped with your depression! Alright, alright, jokes aside. Actually,
using electrical impulses, you can control not only depression, but essentially EVERYTHING.
For example, our limbs move thanks to the brain, which sends signals through the spinal cord to
the nerves. But if you intercept these signals, you can make anyone move against their will.
In 2016, a video was published on the YouTube channel The Royal Institution,
where they demonstrated how to control other people’s bodies. It worked like that: special
electrodes were connected to the same limbs of two people. In this case, the electrodes were attached
to the left hand of the girl and the right hand of a woman. The woman had to try to drink water
from the glass, while the girl had to move her wrist. Of course, you can’t look at this without
a smile! Come on, you can do it, come ooon! The woman managed to drink, but that was challenging.
The impulses the girl sent to her hand were automatically transmitted to the woman. That’s
why she couldn’t calmly bring the glass to her mouth. Of course, there wasn’t any total control:
the girl couldn’t completely manipulate the woman's hand, only confused her to some extent.
The most interesting thing is that you can actually buy this device.
But I wouldn't recommend using it at home. Who knows what it could lead to.
But back to body control in the wild. Meet Massospora - a psychedelic fungus. Its goal
is to infect all the cicadas. And it does it in a very peculiar way. The fungus forces the male
to mate with females. Literally! The male brain receives an order to flick the wings,
imitating the mating invitation. But as you know, the fungus is transmitted by contact,
and cicadas mainly come in contact with each other during mating. But the fungus doesn't stop there.
Massospora mainly spreads to the butt of the cicada, and when the insect flies,
the fungus scatters its spores everywhere. The cicadas hit by these spores automatically
become hosts. What is it, if not the lifecycle of the fungus in nature?
Usually, the parasites need a host to survive and… nothing else. Turns out some parasites
need the body of another animal to breed. For example, the Agriotypus wasp dives underwater
to attach its eggs to caddis fly larvae, and can stay under water for up to 15
minutes to accomplish its task. Remember the ant lion? This is an
insect that sets up sand traps for ants and actually has unusual hunting techniques.
Whoa, that’s creepy! But Lasiochalcidia wasp doesn’t care about this trap,
because it needs to breed as fast as possible! It throws itself into the sand trap of an ant lion,
tears it apart and inserts its eggs in his throat... Now it's really creepy.
And this is the Costa Rican parasitoid wasp, which is different from its kin.
It is unusual because it changes the behavior of the spider,
namely the way it spins its web. The wasp forces its prey to create a web of very strong threads
designed to support the wasp's cocoon. Such a web will not collapse even in the rain!
In some cases, the wasp uses a cunning way to get to the spider. It pretends to be caught in a web
and lies motionless on its back. As the spider approaches, the wasp grabs onto it and stings it
several times until the spider stops resisting. After the victim is paralyzed, the wasp has 5-10
minutes to attach the egg. After this procedure, the spider continues to live a normal life,
not suspecting a thing. But only until the larva stays a larva.
Before pupation, the future wasp releases a chemical that causes the host to spin a special
web. Yes, the usual web won’t do this time. It needs a special web, the likes of which the spider
has never spun before. For comparison: this is an ordinary web, and this is a web for a larva, which
looks much thicker and stronger. After the web is ready, the larva kills the host. A week later,
metamorphosis occurs, and the wasp is born. Share in the comments which way of breeding
surprised you the most. See you later!