Yeah that's right. It turns out that lots of parasites alter the behavior of host (or vector) species, some way more dramatically than others. Like this funky worm in the genus Leucochloridium.

If you're thinking, "that's a snail, actually" - look closer!

Anyways cordyceps fungus infect caterpillars that live underground, slowly paralyzing them and then fruiting from their mummified bodies. It was apparently the inspiration for The Last of Us so I guess say thank you to this funky fungus

Photo is by Gail Hampshire and licensed under a creative commons attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/...

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Oh I almost forgot! How could I forget! Cordyceps fungus!

Anyways, I hope you have enjoyed this week's zombie-tastic #WildlifeWednesday. As always, let me know if you have any questions or requests for future topics, and don't forget to check out previous threads! bsky.app/profile/enda...

These caterpillars may look more or less completely normal until the end! They live and eat only to sustain the larvae of another species developing inside them.

But other times the larvae develop internally, leaving the host's body and pupating underneath it, like this Lymantria dispar caterpillar photographed by György Csóka (licensed under a creative commons attribution license creativecommons.org/licenses/by/...)

Sometimes eggs are laid externally, like this hornworm photographed by WanderingMogwai (Darrah Leffler) (licensed under a creative commons attribution-share alike license creativecommons.org/licenses/by-...)

Some drag their paralyzed but still-living victims to their nests instead. Fun! But while that's equally gruesome, we're here to talk about zombies. Sometimes the eggs are laid into (or onto) a host, which will continue to live and feed as normal... While slowly being eaten from the inside out.

There are a lot of different parasitoid wasps with a lot of different strategies, parasitizing at different life stages, internally or externally, and not all turn their victims - which could be caterpillars, spiders, beetles, and more - into zombies.

This photo is by Ian Alexander, and is licensed under a creative commons attribution-share alike license creativecommons.org/licenses/by-...

But hey! Snails aren't the only zombies out there, and worms aren't the only target. Parasitoid wasps (of which there are many species) also like to turn a wide variety of their fellow arthropods into zombies

Eventually a bird will eat the broodsac (but apparently, maybe not the snail itself), and become host to the adult flatworms. They'll lay their eggs inside the bird, and eventually the bird will poop out some eggs to start the cycle over again. The wonders of nature!

Some species of worms are a little less... invasive, and those snails may even reproduce while being parasitised, but the green-banded broodsac pictured way up there reduces reproductive organs, basically turning the snail into a mobile home for the broodsacs

Hey sorry for the break I was playing a spooky Halloween game with some friends! Anyways, apparently the snails can survive like this for quite some time - evidence suggests they may even survive birds eating the broodsacs out of their tentacles!