To the ant community, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ is a true, and very disturbing story. As if being an ant wasn’t hard enough (appeasing the queen, foraging for food, defending the nest), they also have mind-controlling zombies to contend with.

Deep in the jungles of Brazil, the Zombie-Ant Fungus thrives by infecting a carpenter ant, feeding off its nutrients and taking over its mind. Over the course of a week, the fungus forces the ant to leave its nest, find a nearby plant stem and ascend exactly 25 centimetres, where the conditions are just right. After compelling the ant to lock its mandibles around a leaf, the zombie fungus will then send a stalk through the ant’s head which will grow to become a capsule full of spores.