believe it or not, one of the world’s mostcoveted status symbols is a caterpillar with a fungus growing out of its face. i’m anna, and this is gross science. on the tibetan plateau and the himalayas,ghost moth caterpillars live underground, keeping warm and eating plant roots til theyturn into adult ghost moths. that is, unless they get infected with thefungus ophiocordyceps sinensis. the fungus enters a caterpillar’s body in summer orautumn, and it starts to grow in threads through the caterpillar’s organs, eating it fromthe inside out. brainwashed by the fungus, the caterpillar crawls upward until it’sjust below the surface of the soil, where
it dies. in the spring, a long, brown fungal stalkbursts from the caterpillar’s head. it pops through the soil to send out its spores, whichinfect other caterpillars—and the circle of life and parasitism continue. now, you might think that’s the end of thestory, but people scour the meadows where the fungus grows, hoping to harvest theseinfected corpses. why? well, a pound of the fungus, called yartsa gunbu, can be worthtens of thousands of dollars. in fact, it’s probably the most valuable fungus in the world.that’s because it’s used in traditional chinese and tibetan medicine to slow aging,cure cancer, and treat all kinds of other
diseases. it’s even sold as an aphrodisiac. the science is still out on whether eatingyartsa gunbu actually does anything good for your health. but, harvesting it is definitelybad for the fungus. it’s a huge status symbol in china, and people have collected so muchophiocordyceps sinensis that it’s now endangered in some places. and, this isn’t just a problem for the parasite,or for the people who eat it or brew it in tea. yartsa gunbu is a big part of the economyin places where it’s harvested, like tibet and nepal. so, local communities are tryingto figure out ways to sustainably harvest the fungus. because for them, this is oneparasite that’s worth protecting.
i still feel kind of bad for the caterpillarthough. ew.
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