Parasitic Mind Control | National Geographic

answer a part of the most disciplined
dedicated social system on her 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 flat worm
the liver fluke burrows into a part of
the ants 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 host
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
ants act 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 weakened emaciated devastating
herds and all because of parasitic
mind-control