Before Humans, a Fungus Was Making Zombies: A 99-Million-Year-Old Fly Found Trapped in Amber Proves It | World News
99 million years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. In a haunting scene preserved in ancient tree resin, A tiny fly had a deadly fungus growing out of its head, a clear sign that it had been turned into a “zombie.” The fungus had taken control of the fly’s body before killing it. Now, scientists have discovered this scene, showing that the idea of zombie-like infections isn’t just made up for movies, it actually happened in nature, long ago.
In 100-million-year-old amber from Myanmar, scientists discovered a scene straight out of a horror movie: a fly and an ant, both frozen in time with fungus bursting through their heads. The twisted growths are the fruiting bodies of an ancient fungus called Ophiocordyceps, the same kind that still takes over ants’ minds today, turning them into real-life “zombies” before killing them.
Scientists have also found another ancient fungus named Paleoophiocordyceps, which just doesn’t kill its targets, it actually takes control of their bodies after death. This fungus made the dead insects move and twitch, helping it spread its spores to new places. The strange things growing out of the heads of ants and flies? Those are the fungus’s fruiting bodies, the part it uses to reproduce.
A Real-Life Zombie Story from the Dinosaur Age
Using 3D scans on insects trapped in amber, researcher Yuhui Zhuang and his team discovered two new types of this fungus: Palaeophiocordyceps gerontoformica and Palaeophiocordyceps ironomaia. This shows that “zombie-like” behavior in insects is nothing new infact it’s been around for millions of years.
Poor Ants Are Usually the Victims
But today, this eerie fungus only goes after ants, takes over their brains and makes them climb to high places before it kills them, allowing its spores to spread widely. But in this rare discovery, it wasn’t an ant that got infected, it was a fly. Finding a fly preserved like this in tree resin is extremely unusual, which is why scientists are especially thrilled. It offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into how this mind-controlling fungus behaved millions of years ago.
These insects had most likely died before being trapped in the sticky tree resin, which helped preserve both their bodies and the terrifying fungal growths in remarkable detail even after nearly 100 million years.
This incredible discovery has amazed scientists, offering proof that bizarre and eerie events, the kind we usually see in horror movies, have actually been part of nature’s story for millions of years. The idea of a fungus turning its victims into mindless puppets isn’t just science fiction, it’s a real and ancient nightmare from Earth’s past.
