AL6.TV ID #004: ant drama
This is the video AL6.TV ID #004: ant drama that can be downloaded, played and edit with our RedcoolMedia movie maker MovieStudio video editor online and AudioStudio audio editor online
VIDEO DESCRIPTION:
Play, download and edit the video AL6.TV ID #004: ant drama.
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is an entomopathogen, or insect-pathogenising fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems. O. unilateralis infects ants of the Camponotini tribe, with the full pathogenesis being characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant. Infected hosts leave their canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth; they then use their mandibles to affix themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains until its eventual death. The process leading to mortality takes 4–10 days, and includes a reproductive stage where fruiting bodies grow from the ant's head, rupturing to release the fungus's spores. O. unilateralis is in turn also susceptible to fungal infection itself, an occurrence that can limit its impact on ant populations, which has otherwise been known to devastate ant colonies.
Story, pics, animation: Al Medwedsky
Music: INSECT GRINDER - The Wall Of Insects
Free download, play and edit video and audio from AL6.TV ID #004: ant drama using RedcoolMedia.net web apps