Instead, the fungus actually takes complete control of the ant’s body, spreading its cells to the insect’s abdomen and legs, as well as the head, but leaving the brain of the bug untouched.

The fungus locks the ant in position, grows a stalk out of its head from which it spews spores on to the unsuspecting ants on the forest floor below. Fungi take advantage of whatever resources ...

A leaf-cutter ant worker tends to her fungus garden. These ants grow a fungus, which feeds the entire colony, using leaves that the ants harvest from the surrounding rainforest. This image relates ...

That’s because insects like leafcutter ants have figured out a clever trick ... They cut leaves and they use that leaf material to grow a fungus for food,” explained Cameron Currie, lead ...

Over time, leafcutter ants have evolved a complex system of agriculture in their nests, cultivating bumper crops of fungi that are the ants' sole food source. Foragers cut pieces of leaves from ...

The show's premiere opens with a brief prologue in 1968, in which Dr. Neuman (John Hannah) explains how the fungus infects ants, before pointing out that if the world gets warmer due to climate ...