What would you do if a mysterious fungus
invaded your body and started eating you
from the inside out?
Sounds like something out of a horror film
but that's actually exactly what happens to a certain type
of baby moth.
This fungus eats its way through the helpless moth
and then sprouts out of their heads like a spring daisy.
But this rare hybrid fungus called Caterpillar fungus
isn't just totally fascinating, it's also expensive,
sometimes selling for more than three times
its weight in gold.
Caterpillar fungus grows in the remote Tibetan Plateau
in the Himalayan mountains.
But that's not the only place you can find it.
You can also find it in New York City's Chinatown.
Here nestled among countless drawers of dried mugwort leaves
and hibiscus flowers, there it is:
A small pile of 50 or so pieces of dried Caterpillar fungus.
Here one gram of it costs about $30.
But that's a steal.
Vendors on Ebay, for example, will try to get away
with listing a gram for $125.
The price is so high simply because this hybrid creature
is incredibly rare.
It shows up only for a few weeks each year
in the remote regions of Nepal, Tibet, India, and Bhutan.
And even there, the fungus can still be tricky
for collectors to find hidden amongst a sea of grass.
For centuries, it's been a staple of traditional Tibetan
and Chinese medicine.
Kelly Hopping: Traditionally it was used as a general tonic
for immune support.
Narrator: So for instance, a family might add some of it
to chicken soup to make you feel better.
It's even rumored that it can be used
as some sort of Himalayan Viagra.
Though there's little evidence to back that claim up.
People also buy the fungus as a gift or use it for bribes
or as a status symbol.
As a result, better-looking pieces fetch a higher price.
Kelly Hopping: It's all dependent on exactly the color
of the Caterpillar fungus.
Even, say, the shape of its body when it died.
All these things that don't necessarily have anything
to do with medicinal value make all the difference
for the economic value.
Narrator: In 2017 for example, high-quality pieces
sold for as much as $140,000 per kilo
or about $63,000 per pound.
Now, Caterpillar fungus has always been pricey, but experts
say its value really skyrocketed in the 1990s and 2000s
because of a growing Chinese economy.
The resulting increase in disposable income ultimately
helped drive a massive boom in harvest.
In the Tibetan Autonomous Region for example,
collectors reportedly hauled out more than three times
as much Caterpillar fungus in the early 2000s
than they did in the '80s.
And now, many families depend on the cash it brings in.
In fact, experts say up to 80% of household income
in the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayas
can come from selling Caterpillar fungus.
Just one district in Nepal reported collecting
4.7 million dollars worth of Caterpillar fungus in 2016.
That is 12% more than the district's annual budget.
But those profits are at risk.
Surveys indicate that the annual harvests
have recently declined.
Kelly Hopping: The collectors themselves mostly attributed
this to over harvesting.
Acknowledging that their own collection pressure
was driving these declines.
Narrator: And it doesn't help
that it's difficult to regulate the harvest.
Daniel Winkler: And all these different political units
have a different policy, and in the end, it is really down
to county level and how it's implemented.
Narrator: And climate change is also causing problems.
The fungus is more abundant in areas
with cold, long winters.
Which are increasingly hard to come by.
Daniel Winkler: For the rural economy, if there's a lot of
loss, it would be devastating.