Examples of Mind Control in Nature

[ponda]

Source link (http://listverse.com/2009/07/29/10-fascinating-cases-of-mind-control/)



Controlling the minds of other living creatures is simply the stuff of science fiction right? Well for some creatures becoming a real live zombie is a daily hazard. Here are 10 examples of real parasitic behavior modifications. These are in no particular order.


Phorid flies
Pseudacteon


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UThaL-D6U8

The genus Pseudacteon, of which 110 species have been documented, is a parasitoid of the ant in South America. Members of Pseudacteon reproduce by laying eggs in the thorax of the ant. The first instar larvae migrate to the head. The larvae develop by feeding on the hemolymph, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue in the head. Eventually, the larvae completely devour the ant’s brain, causing it to do nothing but wander aimlessly for approximately two weeks. After about two to four weeks, they cause the ant’s head to fall off by releasing an enzyme that dissolves the membrane attaching the ant’s head to its body. The fly pupates in the detached head capsule.




Toxoplasma Gondii

http://listverse.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/catdiet-tm.jpg


Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite the definitive host of which is the cat, but the parasite can be carried by all known mammals including humans. T. gondii infections have the ability to change the behavior of rats and mice, making them drawn to rather than fearful of the scent of cats. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to sexually reproduce if its host is eaten by a cat. The infection is almost surgical in its precision, as it does not affect a rat’s other fears such as the fear of open spaces or of unfamiliar smelling food.


Euhaplorchis Californiensis

http://listverse.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/fish-school-tm.jpg

This parasite lives in the gut of shorebirds and produces eggs that are released in the bird’s stool which are spread into the salt-water marshes and ponds of southern California. Some of these eggs get swallowed up by snails and hatch into larva. Once these larvae are mature enough they leave the snail and swim out into the marshes eventually finding a killifish, entering through the gills and making its way along a nerve and into the brain cavity. Once in the brain cavity the parasite will cause the fish to come to the surface, swim in circles, jerk around and display its silvery underside in an attempt to attract a bird’s attention. This behavior makes the infected fish 30 times more likely to be caught and consumed by a bird. Once the fish is consumed, the parasite lives in the bird’s gut and the process can begin anew.



Jewel Wasp
Ampulex Compressa


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN2XMyxAs5o


When a female jewel wasp is ready to lay its egg it finds a cockroach and administers two stings. The first sting is to the roach’s thorax temporarily paralyzing its front legs. The second sting is directly to the roach’s brain. This sting causes the roach to lose its escape reflex. Without its escape reflex the wasp, who is much too small to carry the cockroach, can grab one of the cockroach’s antennae and lead it around like a dog on a leash. The wasp takes her new pet back to her nest, lays an egg on its belly and seals it inside. Eventually the larva will hatch and consume the still living roach, which happily lies there until it dies.



Hairworm
Spinochordodes Tellinii



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7r1S6-op8E


This worm’s larva develops and grows inside orthopteran insects (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.). As it grows the worm will consume the internal organs of its host until there is nothing left but the head, legs and outer shell. Once the parasite is grown (usually 3-4 times larger than its host), it manipulates its host to actually seek out and dive into a large body of water. Once in the water the worm emerges and swims away to live out the rest of its life, leaving the host to drown.



continued below

[ponda]

source link (http://listverse.com/2009/07/29/10-fascinating-cases-of-mind-control/)


Costa Rican Parasitoid Wasp
Hymenoepimecis Argyraphaga


http://listverse.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/581650105_b43f8fcf9c-tm.jpg


Hymenoepimecis argyraphaga is a Costa Rican parasitoid wasp whose host is the spider Plesiometa argyra. The adult female wasp temporarily paralyzes the spider and lays an egg on its abdomen. The egg hatches into a larva which sucks the spider’s blood through small holes, while the spider goes on about its normal web building and insect catching behavior for the next one to two weeks. When the larva is ready to pupate, it injects a chemical into the spider, causing it to build a web whose design is completely different from any it has ever made, and then to sit motionless in the middle of this web. Even if the larva is removed prior to the web-building process, the spider still engages in aberrant web-spinning. The wasp larva then molts, kills the spider with a poison and sucks its body dry before discarding it and building a cocoon that hangs from the middle of the web the spider has just built. The larva pupates inside the cocoon, and then emerges to mate and begin the cycle over again.


Cordyceps Unilateralis



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5TSPQTxCJM


C. unilateralis is a species of entomopathogenic fungus that infects and alters the behavior of ants in order to ensure the widespread distribution of its spores. The spores enter the body of the insect through its spiracles, where they begin to consume the non-vital soft tissues. When the fungus is ready to spore, its mycelia enter the ant’s brain and change how it perceives pheromones, causing the insect to climb to the top of a plant and use its mandibles to secure itself to the stem. The fungus then kills the ant, and the fruiting bodies of C. unilateralis grow from its head and explode, releasing the spores.



Glyptapanteles



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UkDMrG6tog


Glyptapanteles is a genus of parasitoid wasps found in Central and North America. A female Glyptapanteles will lay her eggs (about 80 at a time) inside a young caterpillar host. After hatching the larvae will feed on the caterpillar’s succulent juicy insides until they are fully developed. They then emerge from the body, attach themselves to a branch or leaf, and form a cocoon. However, one or two larvae remain behind and manipulate the caterpillar to take up position near the cocoons, arch its back, and cease to move or feed. However, when the cocoons are disturbed, the caterpillar will thrash around violently. The pupae effectively have themselves a zombie-caterpillar bodyguard. The caterpillar remains this way until the cocoons hatch at which point it dies.


Lancet Liver Fluke
Dicrocoelium Dendriticum



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGSUU3E9ZoM


D. dendriticum spends its adult life inside the liver of its host. After mating, the eggs are excreted in the feces. The first intermediate host, the terrestrial snail, eats the feces, and becomes infected by the larval parasites. The larvae (or cercariae) drill through the wall of the gut and settle in its digestive tract, where they develop into a juvenile stage. The snail tries to defend itself by walling the parasites off in cysts, which it then excretes and leaves behind in the grass. The second intermediate host, an ant, uses the trail of slime as a source of moisture. The ant then swallows a cyst loaded with hundreds of juvenile lancet flukes. The parasites enter the gut and then drift through its body. Most of the cercariae encyst in the haemocoel of the ant and mature into metacercariae, but one moves to the sub-esophageal ganglion (a cluster of nerve cells underneath the esophagus). There, the fluke takes control of the ant’s actions by manipulating these nerves. As evening approaches and the air cools, the infested ant is drawn away from other members of the colony and upward to the top of a blade of grass. Once there, it clamps its mandibles onto the top of the blade and stays there until dawn. Afterward, it goes back to its normal activity at the ant colony. If the host ant were to be subjected to the heat of the direct sun, it would die along with the parasite. Night after night, the ant goes back to the top of a blade of grass until a grazing animal comes along and eats the blade, ingesting the ant along with it, thus putting lancet flukes back inside their preferred host.


Sacculina


http://listverse.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/sacculinacarciniweb-tm.jpg


Sacculina is a genus of barnacles that parasitize crabs. Upon finding a host crab, the female Sacculina larva walks on it until it finds a joint. It then molts, injecting its soft body into the crab while its shell falls off. The Sacculina grows in the crab, emerging as a sac on the underside of the crab’s rear thorax, where the crab’s eggs would be incubated. When a female Sacculina is implanted in a male crab it will interfere with the crab’s hormonal balance. This sterilizes it and changes the bodily layout of the crab to resemble that of a female crab by widening and flattening its abdomen, among other things. The female Sacculina has even been known to cause the male crabs to perform mating gestures typical of female crabs. The male Sacculina looks for a female Sacculina adult on the underside of a crab. He then enters and fertilizes her eggs. The crab (male or female) then cares for the eggs as if they were its own, having been rendered infertile by the parasite. The natural hatching process of a crab consists of the female finding a high rock and grooming its brood pouch on its abdomen and releasing the fertilized eggs in the water through a bobbing motion. The female crab stirs the water with her claw to aid the flow of the water. When the hatching parasite eggs of the Sacculina are ready to emerge from the brood pouch of Sacculina, the crab performs a similar process. The crab shoots them out through pulses creating a large cloud of parasites. The crab then uses the familiar technique of stirring the water to aid in flow.


Leucochloridium Paradoxum



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWB_COSUXMw


Leucochloridium Paradoxum is a parasitic flatworm that uses gastropods (snails and slugs) as an intermediate host. The worm in its larval stage, travels into the digestive system of a snail to develop into the next stage, sporocyst. The sporocyst grows into long tubes to form swollen “broodsacs” filled with tens to hundreds of larvae. These broodsacs invade the snail’s tentacle (preferring the middle, when available), causing a brilliant transformation, of the tentacles, into a swollen, pulsating, colorful display that mimics the appearance of a caterpillar or grub. The infection of the tentacles of the eyes seems to inhibit the perception of light intensity. Whereas uninfected snails seek dark areas to prevent predation, infected snails are more likely to become exposed to predators such as birds. The resulting behavior of the flatworm is a case of aggressive mimicry, where the parasite vaguely resembles the food of the host. This gains the parasite entry into the host’s body; this is unlike most other cases of aggressive mimicry, in which only a part of the host resembles the target’s prey and the mimic itself then eats the duped animal.

[Skyhaven]

Rabies is such a case too, where the host eventually loses his/her mind and randomly bites others and in doing so spreading the virus

[kirolak]

It all makes me quite sad, to think that what we are is so dependent upon physical changes & influences beyond our control

[ponda]

It all makes me quite sad, to think that what we are is so dependent upon physical changes & influences beyond our control


If one is aware of the possibility of an external influence then one can take precautions. ie mindfulness

[Flash]

Source link (http://listverse.com/2009/07/29/10-fascinating-cases-of-mind-control/)

Toxoplasma Gondii

http://listverse.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/catdiet-tm.jpg

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite the definitive host of which is the cat, but the parasite can be carried by all known mammals including humans. T. gondii infections have the ability to change the behavior of rats and mice, making them drawn to rather than fearful of the scent of cats. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to sexually reproduce if its host is eaten by a cat. The infection is almost surgical in its precision, as it does not affect a rat’s other fears such as the fear of open spaces or of unfamiliar smelling food.


Toxoplasma in cat also invades the human brain. Through the cat's feces. Once invaded, the human host will become introvert and not very sociable in males, and giggly / light headed gregarious in females.



Two months ago, a team of Swedish scientists uncovered a key piece of the puzzle. In order to travel throughout the body and, most importantly, to the brain, toxo hijacks the very cells designed to destroy foreign invaders: the white blood cells. And not only does the parasite ride those cells like a city bus, but it also turns them into tiny chemical factories, producing a neurotransmitter known to reduce fear and anxiety in rats—and in humans. (Explore the human body.)

Even though toxo most often lives in cats, it infects millions of humans, jumping to us via contact with litter boxes, contaminated water, or undercooked meat. For most people, the parasite causes no obvious problems. Pregnant women must be careful, though; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that women infected during pregnancy face increased risk of miscarriage or birth defects.

What's Toxo Doing to Me?

In 1990, Flegr happened to find out he had toxo himself—a colleague who studied the parasite had developed a new diagnostic test and decided to try it out on Flegr. The news that he carried the parasite gave him an idea. He knew the parasite reduced fear in rats so they'd be more likely to get eaten by cats. And he'd also recently noticed a certain lack of fear in himself. "I would cross the street in traffic and not jump when the cars honked," he said. He wondered: Could the toxo be responsible?

Over the next 15 years, using experimentation and analysis of public health data, Flegr discovered a series of fascinating links between toxo and human behavior. A toxo-infected person is more than twice as likely to be in a car accident—which Flegr attributes to the parasite's tendency to reduce reaction time—and has a higher than normal risk of developing schizophrenia. Other scientists have shown a connection between toxo and an increased risk of suicide.

How toxo might cause these changes remained a mystery. Then in 2009, scientists in the U.K. discovered that toxo has two genes for making l-DOPA, the precursor molecule to dopamine. Elevated levels of dopamine are associated with schizophrenia. This research told a piece of the story but left many questions.

Hitching a Ride on Immune System Cells

Enter Antonion Barragan, a researcher at the Center for Infectious Medicine at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. As Barragan and his team examined toxo in the blood of mice, they found the parasite living in a surprising place: inside the immune cells designed to kill them, a type of white blood cell called a "dendritic cell," after its treelike appearance. "These are the gatekeepers of the immune system," he said. "And we wondered, maybe the parasite is using these cells to get around." Using the cells as Trojan horses. As it turned out, he was right. Toxo was using the immune system cells to travel through the body and get to the host's brain. But how? The immune cells need to be stimulated in order to move—and the toxo itself obviously wasn't getting them going; the cells didn't even seem to know they'd been infected. What was agitating the dendritic cells?

And then they found it: a neurotransmitter called GABA. "It didn't make any sense," Barragan said. "GABA operates in the brain. What's it doing in the immune system?" But there it was. Barragan was seeing something nobody had seen before. Toxo appeared to be inducing GABA production inside the dendritic cells, which excited GABA receptors on the outside of the very same dendritic cells, and sent them zooming through the body, and to the brain. Now, here's the fascinating part: Disturbances in GABA are commonly seen in many psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia. And elevated GABA levels, Barragan says, "are associated with decreases in fear and anxiety."

Still, Flegr cautions that this discovery doesn't tell the whole story. "I still think the most important molecule is dopamine," he said. "But this GABA mechanism is brand new and very interesting."

And perhaps not surprisingly, given all we've learned about toxo so far, he said, "It's very, very clever."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/01/220113-sneaky-cat-parasite-takes-over-human-brains-science/

In fact, we are all parasites of each other - human also eat meat, plants, seafood, we are parasites to these life filled organisms. We even raise our fish and animals and plants, to better live from them.

I see it as a service to each others in some ways. This service is not fine when out of balance, becoming a nuisance for survival of whole groups of species or yet the whole planet.

So nothing surprising in some species using human's energetic power as loosh or flesh for their own sustenance or junkie desires. Once again here, it is the balance that is sought, and in this case, using higher beings that are humans to minimize their development might be bringing in the out of balance on a more cosmic level.

So forgive the 1% and the Bush / Rotschild of this world, they are plainly just being who they are, parasites. We just have to desinfect and keep them at bay afterwards. But yes, it is difficult to convince the crowd because they invade our emotions and our brains (TV, video games, religions, etc), are good at it, know how to go around our défenses, and are pleasing to the eye so they get the woman while inhibiting males behaviors by getting them to obey. Successful parasites.