You are getting very very sleepy.
When I snap my fingers, cluck like a chicken!
Now, go make me a sandwich!
Hmm, didn’t work, did it?
Well, fine, I can’t control minds.
But there are creatures out there that actually can!
Hey, just take, for instance…
1.
Japanese oakblue caterpillars Before they become butterflies, caterpillars
need not only lots of food but also not to become food themselves.
And these particular ones gained a really awesome skill to protect themselves: they
control ants.
Japanese oakblues secrete a sweet substance that ants love, and this makes them more aggressive.
Since they don’t want to lose their precious source of sweetness, they’ll protect the
caterpillar with everything they’ve got.
In fact, researchers found that ants become sort of addicted to the secretions and get
mad if something threatens the caterpillars.
Well, I would too if someone tried to snatch my cake right from under my nose!
2.
Braconid wasps While Japanese oakblue caterpillars found
a way to get rid of predators by creating their own army of ants, others become unwilling
minions themselves.
Braconid wasps sting caterpillars and inject their eggs into their bodies.
Caterpillars shrug it off like it’s nothing and go on with their lives.
But two weeks later, the eggs hatch, and wasp larvae emerge, taking over control of the
caterpillar.
Don’t get me wrong: the insect is alive and well, it just begins to act like it’s
got a duty to protect its “kids.”
It furiously attacks anything that comes near them until they become fully-grown wasps.
Now that’s what I call foster-parent love!
3.
Jewel wasps Nobody likes cockroaches, right?
Well, these wasps do!
They like roaches so much that they give their own kids to them…sorta.
You see, jewel wasps (also known as Emerald cockroach wasps) first sting a cockroach to
make it behave.
It’s like a slap on the head – the roach is fine but kind of embarrassed.
It doesn’t know why it should be, though, but that doesn’t matter.
The wasp then takes it by one of its antennae and walks it to a burrow where it lays a single
egg on the roach’s belly.
The insect then stays in the burrow until the wasp larva hatches, all the while keeping
it safe and sound.
Mamma wasp, in the meantime, calmly goes about her business, knowing that her cockroach nanny
will do all the work for her.
Basically, it’s like taming a wild animal and handing your kids over to it!
Hmm, I suppose jewel wasps aren’t the most responsible of parents...
4.
Zombie fungus No, this fungus isn’t zombified – it does
the zombifying on others!
More specifically, carpenter ants seem to be its favorite target.
It all begins with a single ant inhaling a spore of the fungus.
After some time, the spore grows and the ant becomes less ant and more fungus.
In the end, a sprout shoots from the back of the unfortunate ant, and that’s where
the fungus finally wins.
It takes control over the insect’s mind and body, making it go to a very specific
location with conditions that suit the fungus best.
And when they’ve finally reached the desired spot, the fungus starts shooting out spores
to get more ants going its way.
So it’s more like a free-loading, hitch-hiking, zombifying fungus!
Sheesh, dude, just call an Uber…
5.
Spiny-headed worms These guys have found a really elaborate way
to survive.
Adult spiny-headed worms live their whole life in the guts of starlings and remain largely
unnoticed.
It’s just that, being parasites, they can’t survive without a host.
But what’s fascinating about them is how they get there.
You see, a starling’s favorite food is pill bugs.
But these little crawlers are really hard to find since they like dark, damp places.
However, they have a real taste for, uh, starling droppings.
Guess what they often find in a fresh meal?
Right you are: worm eggs.
A pill bug eats those eggs and goes about its bug business for some time.
Then, the eggs start to hatch, and worms grow inside the bug’s body.
They soon outgrow their 14-legged mobile home, and that’s where the madness begins.
Spiny-headed worms take control over the pill bug’s mind and body, and a normally secretive
insect leaves its cozy dark nest and heads out into the open.
That’s when a starling notices the unlucky bug and eats it – and that’s exactly what
the worms inside it wanted all along.
Now they have a bigger host that can fit them more comfortably, and the cycle goes on and
on…
6.
Acacia trees So far, you’ve heard about mind-controlling
animals and insects, but how about a mind-bending plant?
Acacia trees have a very weird kind of relationship with the ants living on and around them.
(Again, it’s always the poor ants!)
The tree produces two kinds of substances: one that’s really sweet-tasting and awesome
for ants, and the other that repels them like nothing else.
Juggling between the two, acacia can draw the ants where they’re most needed.
For example, if some wood-burrowing insects attack the trunk of the tree, the acacia will
produce the sweet sap in that specific place and the bitter one everywhere else.
The ants are naturally attracted to the sweetness, and when they see wood-eaters, they attack
relentlessly.
(They really like to protect their tasty treats, don’t they?)
But that’s not all!
If there’s a plant nearby that’s threatening the acacia tree, it can send the ants to cut
off its leaves, making it wilt in the sun.
Sounds like full-blown plant warfare!
7.
Xenos larvae These parasitic insects live their entire
life in the belly of a wasp.
A xenos quietly lies in wait until a wasp lands nearby, and then jumps it from below,
quickly getting inside its body.
The wasp doesn’t even realize what’s going on until it’s too late.
Now, wasps are social creatures, and they form colonies.
Infected wasps, however, become uninterested in their colony and fly away – but not just
anywhere.
They go to a meeting place with other infected wasps!
The parasites inside them make the insects change their behavior so that they can meet
up for mating.
When they’re done with all that, they ride the wasps back to their old colonies and start
the hunt again.
Think I’m starting to see a pattern with these freeloading hitch-hikers…
8.
Orchard spider wasps Orchard weaver spiders are quite common in
North America, and they’re just like any other arachnid – spinning their webs and
munching on unlucky insects.
What’s crazy about this species is the way they get attacked by parasitic wasps.
Such a wasp will land on a spider’s back and sting it.
While the spider is knocked out, the wasp just nonchalantly lays some eggs on it.
When the orchard spider comes around, it just goes about its business like nothing happened,
probably thinking, “Man, I had the weirdest dream…”
Eventually, the eggs hatch, and the wasp larvae start quietly gnawing on the spider.
How hard can it be to notice something a quarter of your size biting you?
Well, it seems that it takes more than a couple of munches for the spider to pay attention.
Where’s the mind-control in all that, you ask?
It starts when the larvae get big enough.
They make the spider stop spinning its web and lie calmly while they get the necessary
food.
When that’s done, the spider has to sit back and watch these baby wasps use its web
as a cocoon.
Imagine going through all that trouble just to have the house you built with your own
hands taken away from you by a bunch of kids!
Rough…
9.
Toxoplasma These things aren’t animals or insects – they’re
microscopic organisms.
Toxoplasmosis is a condition that anyone can get, but it all usually starts with cats.
Yes, our feline companions are the only animals the toxoplasma can reproduce in.
And they get into a kitty’s belly in a most unusual way.
We all know that mice and cats are natural enemies, right?
So when a mouse smells a feline nearby, it runs away.
However, when a mouse eats something that contains toxoplasma, the tiny parasites make
the rodent keen on the scent of cats.
How insidious!
Now that our Mr. Mousie thinks that cats are its best friends, it gets attracted to them.
Ah, it was good knowing ya, little guy.
A cat catches the brainwashed mouse, and the crafty toxoplasma parasites finally find their
new home: the feline’s intestines.
But if you think that’s it, just wait!
Toxoplasma has been proven to affect the human brain too!
In fact, toxoplasmosis sometimes causes neurological disorders and serious changes in behavior.
So it’s probably the only parasite that can control human minds as well as animals’.
That could be a nice horror flick…
Beware of the tox!
Do you know of any other superpowers different creatures possess?
Tell me about them down in the comments!
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