close
close

“Zombie mushroom” found in Scotland, but don’t worry – we’re not in “The Last of Us” situation yet

Posted on by Kennedy
“Zombie mushroom” found in Scotland, but don’t worry – we’re not in “The Last of Us” situation yet

A rare mushroom that looks like the Cordyceps mushroom that inspired The Last of Us was recently discovered in a rainforest in Scotland.

In Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, humanity is destroyed by the Cordyceps brain infection, which turns people into fearsome zombie-like creatures called clickers.

The idea was used for HBO's wildly popular television series The Last of Us, which begins with a flashback to 1968 and a scientist's warning about the dangers of fungi.

Dr. Neuman, played by John Hannah, talks about a fungus that infects insects and travels through the circulatory system to the brain, flooding it with hallucinogens. “The Last of Us” wonders what would happen if one of these fungal species, previously limited to infecting insects, evolved to attack humans, and we all know the outcome.

Now, as The Times reports, the Gibellula mushroom has been found in Scotland, which infects spiders via fungal spores, grows out of the body and finally digests the entire insect. Like The Last of Us's parasitic fungal infection in humans, the real Gibellula fungus can cause spiders to behave “like zombies” before dying by causing them to cling to the underside of leaves, allowing spores to spread more easily.

This is not the first time the Gibellula mushroom has been detected in Scotland, but it is incredibly rare. The Times said it had only been found 10 times in the country in the last 70 years.

Amateur naturalist Ben Mitchell, who is part of the West Cowal Habitat Restoration Project on the west coast of Scotland and made the discovery, said: “It belongs to a group of fungi known for turning their victims into 'zombies' and to “bind them up” and act in a certain way before killing them.

“Gibellula appears to encourage spiders to move to the underside of leaves before pinning them there. Perhaps it's because when the spores bear fruit, they are protected from the rain and can more easily fall to other unsuspecting spiders.

“It’s a bit gloomy, but it’s all part of the remarkable natural world.”

Ever since The Last of Us hit PlayStation and later our television screens, the real-life Cordyceps has been under the microscope, with some wondering whether the future the video game imagines could be possible in the real world. In fact, Cordyceps has long been studied by the scientific community and is even included in a number of dietary supplements. But don't worry – so far none of these “zombie mushrooms” have gained the ability to control the human mind.

Until now.

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *