Cordyceps - Tumblr Posts
Cordyceps fungi on moths
Cordyceps fungi are parasitic, mostly on insects. This aids in spreading their spores, because at the last stage of infection they take over the nervous system and force the insect to higher ground.
Image credits, clockwise from top right: Lars Fehlandt, stock, Sinobug on project noah, Pete Oxford, last 2 Paul on flickr
Oh, and they can infect moth larvae too
Image credits from left to right: stock, NPR
The second photo is of caterpillars infected with Ophiocordyceps sinensis, used in Tibetan and Chinese traditional medicine as an aphrodisiac. It's so valuable a fight over it caused 2 people's deaths.
This short article about it is an interesting read
Me when people watch The Last of Us and get interested in fungi and how cool it is: :)
Me when people watch The Last of Us and start killing mushrooms and other fungi on sight: :(
THAT’S THE POINT OF THE STORY, HOMESLICE!!!!!! I’m glad the show exists so more people could experience this amazing story, but I find it strange that there’s a huge amount of Youtube videos called “Where’s all the zombies in The Last of Us”? The zombies are amazing! Don’t get me wrong. The designs have been peak since the game first released, but that is not what the story is focused on. Unlike the Walking Dead or World War Z, the story isn’t centered about survival or finding a cure. It’s about a journey of a man learning to open up again while set in a zombie apocalypse. Yes, the point of the journey is to find a cure but that takes more of a backseat compared to the Joel’s personal journey.
The zombies are the setting so to speak to show us a beautiful story centered around individual characters. The zombies give an reason why the obstacles (people) Joel face act the way they do. They did their (basic) purpose so we can focus on the real bad guys.
it’s pretty clear that humanity’s worst enemy in the last of us are people themselves. the infected are scary, and dangerous, but they are manageable. they can be killed. detected. prevented. but they brought out the worst, and the worst survive. right from day 1, the worldwide militaries first decision was to bomb the cities. to kill people healthy people leaving the cities. to make quarantine zones run by power hungry militias, and to round up and kill everyone who lived in small towns (who could have lived peacefully and successfully if left alone). to act like dictators. even the rebel fireflies. if kathleen had dealt w the crumbling infrastructure in kansas city (the fact that the infected were going to escape from underground) instead of obsessing over henry & sam and in turn condemning all the lives she worked so hard to free. david & his men turning to cannibalism and assault instead of gardening, fishing, hunting, scouting the area. even the person joel was before he met ellie and learned how to love again. the real monsters in the last of us aren’t the infected.
Idiots in love
FUNGUARY 05, Cordyceps, month of mushrooms! ALSO THANK YOU FOR MY FIRST 10 patreons!!! #cordyceps #fungi #funguary #funguary2023 #funguaryday5 #marker #markerart #inking #ink #watercolorpaper #mushroom #mushroomlady #firehead #monsterlady #bathingsuit #creepylady https://www.instagram.com/p/CoRq0H1qkub/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=