Parasitic Mind Control | National Geographic

answer a part of the most disciplined
dedicated social system on earth until
that is they become slaves to behavior
controlling parasites suddenly these
rogue ants no longer serve the colony
they’re taking their orders from the
parasite okay let’s back up now how did
this happen it all begins when the ants
in any town USA consume the slime of a
passing snail they divide it up and take
it back to the colony this is a blunder
of epic proportions turns out the slime
is loaded with eggs of a Body Snatcher
called the liver fluke a type of
flatworm
the liver fluke burrows into a part of
the ant’s brain and for unknown reasons
it’s almost like the fluke enslaves the
ants and orders them to carry it to
their next hosts any grazing mammal
hosts with a nice warm liver will do but
in this case a cow appears the liver
fluke worms can switch the ants behavior
on and off causing the infected ants to
place themselves in easy to eat
positions at dusk when mammals are
feeding no cows in sight and sac normal
cows appear ants are in essence ordered
to take their positions in purple
flowers and latch on the cows ingest the
vegetation the ants and the Fluke larva
inside the ants all in one bite once
inside the cow the worms burrow out of
the stomach and into the liver where
they develop into adults and dine on
liver tissue they lay eggs that are
excreted from the liver into the bile
duct and then defecated by the cows they
don’t kill the cows but the cows become
weak and emaciated devastating hurts and
all because of parasitic mind control