Zombie Fungus Found In Scotland Is Like The One That Built The Last Of Us Series.

 Aclub mushroom similar to the Cordyceps that inspired the makers of The Last of Us has recently been found in a rainforest in Scotland. The Times reported that the Gibellula fungus was found in Scotland, and it infects spiders through fungal spores that grow inside the body, eventually digesting the insect completely.

This is of course similar to the parasitic fungal infection we saw in the first The Last of Us, where the Gibellula fungus can make spiders act like zombies before dying, by making them stick to the underside of leaves, allowing the spores to spread more easily inside their bodies. This isn't the first time Gibellula has been found in Scotland, but it's incredibly rare. The Times reports that it has only been found 10 times in the country in the past 70 years.

Naturalist Ben Mitchell, who made the discovery, said: It is part of a group of fungi known to turn their victims into zombies, forcing them to act in a certain way before killing them. The Gibellula fungus appears to cause the mites to move to the underside of the leaves, before they attach themselves to them. 

This may be so that when they fruit, the spores are protected from rain and can more easily fall on other mites. It's a bit dark, but it's part of the wonderful natural world. In Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, humanity has been devastated by a brain infection caused by the Cordyceps fungus, which has transformed humans into terrifying zombie-like creatures called Clickers.