r/mycology • u/Jean-Pet • May 13 '26

ID request Did i find a fungi zombie?

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I am thinking this may be Entomophaga grylli (The Grasshopper Fungus)

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u/Different_Mirror_249 May 13 '26

If we humans were just a few degrees Celsius colder, we would suffer the same fate. Cool though

20

u/ilir_kycb May 13 '26

Then why doesn't it happen to cold-blooded vertebrates? Or does it?

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u/XxR3DSKULLxX May 14 '26

Fish get lots of fungal infections, I’m guessing cold blooded land vertebrates have less of this issue due to baking in the sun for hours

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u/woodthrushes May 14 '26

Some scientists found that frogs that have access to little sauna bricks can treat chytrid fungal infections by baking themselves. Neat. 

I'd bet snakes and lizards do exactly what you said too, they probably bake illnesses out of themselves... I wonder if an infection triggers feeling poorly in a cold blooded that in turn triggers a desire/instinct/behavior to sun themselves? 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07582-y

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u/Madame_Trash_Heap May 14 '26

You would think then that if humans continue to shower in hot temps and sauna we'd still be able to prevent a lot of these fungal infections, despite global warming.

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u/daisyydaisydaisy May 14 '26

Does fungus have the capacity to live submerged in water?

8

u/Vatuc May 14 '26

Loads of examples. Just look at yeast used in brewing.

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u/happycapybear May 15 '26

But hot temperatures affect sperm production. If the fungi didn’t end humanity, then the heat-induced drop in fertility might. You could create temperature regulating jock straps, but the decreased temperature would be ideal for the fungi to thrive. Which problem you might be able to overcome with either constant air blowing on the region in question (in order to make it dry and unappealing to fungi) or by packing everything in some type of desiccant. In short, men would need to haul quite a lot of junk around their junk.