But I live with a six-year-old and he is pretty excited about it, so we’ve been getting in a bit of a Halloween mood.

That means talking all things ghostly, ghoulish and gross.

And I’ve discovered something that I really need to tell you. Zombies are real. And, no, I’m not joking.

The real life zombie story that I’d like to share with you isn’t about people with a hunger for brains. It’s about ants, and a fascinating fungus called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.

In the rainforests of Thailand and Brazil there are a species of ants, known as Camponotus leonardi (or carpenter ants), quietly going about their business.

That is, until they encounter the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus.

O. unilateralis is a parasitic fungus that can infect ants. And when it does, it turns them into zombies.

Carpenter ants usually live high in the tree-tops, coming down to forage for food before returning to their nests.

But once infected with the fungus their behaviour totally changes. They climb down out of the trees, down to the forest floor.

They find a suitable leaf, climb underneath it, and chomp down on the leaf to anchor themselves in place. And there they stay.

That’s not the end of the story. With the host ant anchored on the underside of the leaf, still alive, the fungus continues to grow.

It weaves its way through the ants’ body, through the abdomen and thorax, down the legs, and of course into its head. Eventually the fungus erupts from the ants’ head, by way of a giant stalk, which then releases fungal spores into the air.

These spores fall to the forest floor, where they can lie in wait, ready to infect the next hapless ant that wanders by.

The whole process, from infection to the moment a giant spike erupts from the ants head, can take about 10 days.

Scientists have been studying this zombie fungus to try and figure out how it can control the behaviour of ants.

At first it was thought that the fungus must attack and take over the ants’ brain. This theory makes sense, given that the brain is the control centre of the body.

More recently it was discovered that the brain is actually the last part of the ant to be taken over by the fungal growth. Rather than taking over the brain to control the ant, the fungus takes over the ants’ muscles.

It then uses the ant like a puppet, controlling the movement of the limbs and mouth, steering the ant towards the perfect place for the fungus to reproduce.  

So now you all know, zombies are indeed real. Happy Halloween everyone.