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How the Jewel Wasp Turns Cockroaches into Zombies

10:46 AM



If you are a Harry Potter fan , I do not need to tell you what the Imperius curse is . For the rest of you , this is a spel used to control the minds of the people . Now , if you think something like this is possible only to JK Rowling World , here's some good news for you . Nature is obviously a step ahead . Really able to control the minds of its victims , the cockroach , by injecting poison directly into its brain Jewel wasp or ' Emerald Cockroach Wasp ' is .
The secret to ' enthralling ' Jewel wasp 's ability lies in a neurotransmitter called octopamine in the cockroach brain that contols this movement . The Wasp venom blocks octopamine , literally converting a zombie cockroach . This ' zombie ' cockroach is completely unable to fight back because it was captured by the wasp in underground lair it . If you are wondering why the wasp would go through all this trouble just to eat cockroaches , here's the really weird part - the cockroach meant unwittingly play the second part of the mother . The wasp lays an egg on the cockroach belly , and the larva hatches later and eat live cockroaches from the inside out . It takes 3 or 4 days for the worms hatch , after which it slowly feeds the organs of the roach , keeping it alive the whole time . This process takes about 7-8 days , during which the meat has to be fresh for the worm . And because a dead cockroach rots within a day , the wasp prefers the ' gun ' technique . Once the roach have been eaten up completely and it dies , the worm generates a cocoon in it . A fully - grown wasp emerging from cockroach carcass a month later .



The Jewel wasp is very clean and accurate self- injection of poison . It begins by stinging the cockroach around its midsection . In doing so , the front legs are paralyzed . Then the wasp proceeds to make a more precise sting, injecting poison directly into the brain to block the octopamine . At this point , the cockroach is able to move around and still can run away if it wants to . But that's the problem , the poison works on free will the roach 's causing them to lose all motivation to run away from potential hazards and diseases . So now the Hornet is pretty much free to force the cockroaches into the direction of its choosing by tugging and guiding victims . And you know what happens next .

Jewel wasps are normally found in the tropical regions of Africa , India and the Pacific islands . In a single mating session , a female wasp is able to produce enough fertilized eggs to put in some dozens of cockroaches . The phenomenon is so attractive to scientists who conducted several experiments in an attempt to understand it better. Over the course of several investigations , they figured out that octopamine is quite similar to noradrenaline in humans , which is involved in the resistance reaction - or -flight vertebrate brain . They found out that the wasp injects venom in a very specific area of the brain of the roach . So when researchers reversed the process by injecting octopamine - like substance in the same part of a ' zombie ' roach 's brain , it resulted in significant recovery and restoration of his free will . The scientists also observed that the Jewel wasp will sting a cockroach continued for up to 3 minutes to determine the proper place , the sub - esophageal ganglia .

The Jewel wasp is one - of - a - kind , the only known parasite that injects its venom directly into its host brain . But there are other parasites that control the behavior of their victims in some way . Makes you wonder how amazing - yet - scary nature , is not it ?

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