![]() They’re the same fungus.ĭoes the same principle apply to The Last of Us? Is every single person that’s infected with Cordyceps part of one single organism spread out throughout the world? Obviously, continents would separate organisms from one another, but is it possible that this is one organism that is controlling everybody? Perhaps it may be separated from itself by geography, but it is still itself. ![]() They’re not all offspring of some “parent” mushroom. These are fields full of mushrooms that are all connected to one organism for the reason that they are one organism. That 37 acre mushroom meant 37 acre’s worth of mushroom roots throughout the area for a single organism ( Image courtesy of Rob Hille at Wikimedia Commons.) I’ve been looking for one of those to serve as an anchor point so that I can now spread my spores over as many of the ants below as possible.” How does it do that? How does it know to delay the killing of its host until optimal spore-dispersal conditions are found?Īnd what about the concept that what we often think about individual mushrooms in a field all being individuals when in fact, they are all parts of one superorganism? The largest mushroom that we know about is approximately 37 acres. How is it that specific strains of Cordyceps are able to “recognize” their hosts when studied in the lab and actually respond accordingly? How does it manage to measure altitude and control the eyes so that it can seek out something that will take it to altitude, and then determine, “Oh look. It’s not sentient, but it gives the impression that it is for reasons that we still don’t fully understand. Oftentimes we find that fungi almost seem to make decisions, and we see the same thing with Cordyceps. The world of fungi is filled with mystery for this reason. ( Image courtesy of Steve Axford at Wikimedia Commons.) ![]() They are simply a spectator.Ĭordyceps Ioeiensis. It is the mushroom that is in control of their body and not themselves any longer. The Cordyceps is controlling everything they do much like a puppet master. These infected may know that they are attacking their friends and family. Talking, weeping – these are just some of the signs that they sometimes give us. We regularly find runners and stalkers throughout the video game and show who give evidence that they are completely knowledgeable about what it is that they are doing. The same type of thing is suggested to happen throughout The Last of Us. He may want to go and eat dinner, but the fungus moves his muscles for him, causing him to climb a tree and do what he can to infect his friends and family. This means that the ant is likely fully cognizant that he is doing things that he doesn’t want to do. The interesting thing here is that the scaffolding network that the Cordyceps builds around the ant’s muscles doesn’t seem to actively penetrate the nervous system but instead controls the ant’s movements for it. ( Image courtesy of Bernard Dupont at Wikimedia Commons.) ![]() A mushroom then pops out of the back of that little ant’s head, and spores are then dispersed over the colony. The Cordyceps causes the ant to climb an area of a tree that is roughly 10” off the ground, clamp onto a leaf with its jaw, and die. It takes time for the fungus to colonize its host, and this makes for a particularly nefarious parasitic infection here.īut if we return to the ant kingdom once more, we find that once this infection has reached a critical threshold, the behavior of the ant changes. In The Last of Us, this means that somebody can “turn” in the midst of a room full of their friends and family without anybody being any the wiser that they’ve been infected throughout this entire time. It gradually colonizes more and more of its host without causing any signs or symptoms that anybody else can tell until it’s too late. However, for reasons we still don’t understand, Cordyceps doesn’t seem to raise any alarms within the colony. This alone is strange as ants have a very strict quarantine policy in place.Īnytime that an ant is sick, it is rapidly kicked out of the colony, much like a leper. This happens during the incubation period of the infection, a time during which the ant goes about its daily business as if life is normal. When this strain of Cordyceps infects an ant, it soon colonizes its host, building a system of fungal tubes around the ant's muscles throughout its entire body. This strain only infects ants, and ants being in a highly structured social society akin to human beings, I think there are some interesting things that we can derive from this and apply to The Last of Us. This is my personal favorite Cordyceps fungi for the simple reason that it’s so fascinating. Take Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, for example. ( Image courtesy of Ian Suzuki at Wikimedia Commons.)
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