A lethal fungus that turns Irish spiders into zombies
Unbelievable: a brand new fungus named after David Attenborough is nothing short but terrifying and possibly ingenious.
So I’m going to ease us all into the incredibly deadly strategy of the Gibellula attenboroughii with a portrait pretty in pink.
The G. attenboroughii belongs to the genus Gibellula, a parasitic family of mind-controlling fungi that attack spiders, exclusively.
Attenborough’s fungus is the newest addition, a cousin from the Isles of the North.
A BBC show discovered this lethal spore in Ireland in 2021 — mostly in caves — that uses spiders as hosts.
And guess what? I didn’t even put it together. My mother, Dr. J was Irish. “Mama is Irish,” it was something she said. And here we have a parasite from Ireland.
When I think about all the disbelief talk I received over my childhood story, that’s an unbelievable fate right there.
I wish I had reached out sooner to the world at large, even nature, not like I didn’t, but disbelief was an obstacle in my case. People couldn’t believe that Dr. J wrapped up a stranger in a protection scheme against my father as she accused him of being abusive, so getting past the story itself was a challenge. The content was like a big block I couldn’t quite break through.
I tried fierce positivity in the direction of my meaning-making — “these families saved me,” like, what? — I learned that positive is directional, it’s not the tone that one uses, referring to that word as a charge. Some of my positivity was not positive, and it was encouraged, too. I even shaped that story delusionally, as my parents totally disappeared in my “adopted family narrative,” which isn’t to say I am Princess Cariboo, it’s true, but I came from the weirdest parents and ended up getting taken in and that road didn’t work out, it just didn’t work. I didn’t know why, which was comedic, people sought to help me, though I didn’t ask, so I had to stop being a deer in headlights —like, why is this happening? Which I think stems from not wanting to be a part of this story—meaning my parents. I had to activate myself internally. In short, life either happens to you or you make it happen. Action.
I still battle with leaning into my childhood or leaving it behind when it comes to what I write about since I no longer inhabit the same world, and by world, I mean my psychology, my sense of structure.
My understanding of my whole life has been reframed. I was crushed very young by my own. Not the same world. Like, uh, who cares about the other families? There were three. That story, though I hardly lived at home, fueled my life. Even an old friend on the phone the other day said, “you had to go to Paris…” because of my second surrogate family. “No,” I had to exit this old world completely. “No, I did not have to flee.”
“What was I doing here to begin with?”
Would I have been a writer? Is this what I want to do with my life now? I’m in that moment, having a real-life moment, too, because I’m 39. Life is long. It can be, we hope, but it does pass. I came to realize so much in my thirties, that I wouldn’t have done anything that I did in my life up until now. It’s a large statement to make, but it’s the truth. Four years old is pretty much step one in your life, so everything that came after those four fateful years on Miracle Mile took a lifetime to work out. And, along the way, to bring in the fungus, life happens, too, you know? Ever gotten your heart smashed? You can end up in some tough spots, in life. It’s true.
I’m amazed at how unbelievable nature is as I cover science. Life prevails. A strategy is a strategy even if it’s downright evil, I suppose. Gibellula attenboroughii is a lethal weapon.
Researchers believe that it evolved alongside these spiders that only want to chill out in their nests in a cave, so they couldn’t be less interested in interacting with anyone or anything. This fungus attacks their system, though, akin to entering their bloodstream which lures them out of their homes. So the headlines out there on the “www” read that the fungus turns them into zombies.
Which is where the BBC comes in. While filming a TV show in 2021, this new species of fungus was spotted in a spider on the ceiling of an abandoned storage room. These spiders don’t hang out in plein air, so the fungus takes over, and once exposed to air, I think, the fungus can produce a toxin that kills them. So they hook them. They figured out a way to sneak in and then draw them out…Crazy. You see? You never know. Something can sneak in and royally mess up your day. Buh bye. Time to spore. They even release an antibiotic that kills bacteria to preserve the body, so that they can then sprout…
I couldn’t even believe it when I was looking at these photographs, it’s the last one below that blew my mind because of the utter impossibility of its size. There’s no way that you were born from a spider, like, wow, that’s a powerful fungus. A coral-looking fungus. At the end of it all, life knows ONE function: grow. I couldn’t help but see the shadow in it, or simply the rebirth in it, but it strikes a particular note in the darker regions of consciousness; the strategy is so invasive, so cunning, vitally. A parasite.
I’m thinking about growth this week. I’m making peace with the light and dark, where I am now, what’s natural, too, as my book touches upon it: what nature is. Dr. J, my mother, she was…a natural creature. The dark side exists. And it can look white, you know, very white. My mother was very very white. The whitest woman that two women of color had ever seen… literally speaking.
So I’m leaning into my childhood experiences or my complicated family background, and where I am now, and seeing what I have to share on the other side of a block of a story that I couldn’t comfortably talk about. Here’s to assuming who you are now. I have to laugh at that. This fungus blew me away.
Have a good week.
