The cordyceps fungus of “The Last of Us” may not carry a real risk of the zombie-flying human race, but can the same be said of our amphibian families?
Indian researchers on a nature walk through the slopes of the Western Ghats came across a surprising discovery: a living frog that appeared to have a mushroom developing from its back.
The five explorers had been observing reptiles and amphibians while hiking along the lowermost of the mountain range. But when they came near a small roadside pond filled with about 40 small frogs, they observed something strange about one of them.
Balanced on a twig, the frog had an unusual growth on its left flank that, upon closer inspection, was a small gray mushroom. Even more bizarre, contrasting the creatures of “The Last of Us,” the critter appeared unaffected by its fungal partner.
Hobbyist naturalist Chinmay Maliye and Lohit Y.T., a river and swamps specialist at World Wildlife Fund-India, were quick to document the encounter before the group continued.
To our knowledge, never has a mushroom developing from the flank of a live frog been observed, the group wrote in a report in detailing the discovery in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians.
The frog was among many of Rao’s Intermediate Golden-backed frogs (Hylarana intermedia) wadding the pond.
The frogs, which are around the extent of a human thumb, are inherent to the area and are found in plenty in the Western Ghats, the authors noted.
On that day, the tropical foothills were teeming with the croaks of the frogs as Lohit, Maliye and their group tromped through the landscape on a herpetology quest. They did not know their exploration of reptiles and amphibians would turn into a fungus quest.
When they noted the frog with the mushroom attached among a congregation of Rao’s Intermediate Golden-backed frogs, they decided to leave it in peace beyond a brief photoshoot.
Lohit forwarded the close-up pictures of the frog online in the nature journal to see if any resident scientists could recognize the fungal growth.
Mushroom fanatics and experts alike jumped in to recommend it could be a bonnet mushroom in the genus Mycena. This type of mushroom mainly flourishes on rotting organic matter like plants and decaying wood, which is why specialists were puzzled about why one was growing on a living frog.
Even though plenty of fungi thrive on living things, including the yeast that rises on our skin, most don’t develop into mushrooms. For a mushroom to grow, a fungal microorganism has to find a workable home on some kind of surface before it can yield mycelia, similar to a plant’s root. The mycelia cultivate a mushroom only if it discovers enough nutrients to grow.
Living creatures and fungus are frequently a fatal pairing, even if not relatively as dramatic as the stalkers, clickers, and bloaters hunting Joel and Ellie in “The Last of Us.”
While the cordyceps fungus from the hit video game turned HBO series is real, the fungus takes over only the bodies and brains of ants and other creatures before killing them. But in the situation of this uncommon frog-fungus pair, the animal and the mushroom equally seemed to be alive and well.
The frog was not bagged, so no diagnosis is possible, the authors wrote.
Maybe, though, some other bold explorers will be encouraged to trek back out into the Ghats to pursue and gather a sample frog – if it hasn’t yet transformed.
Chytrid fungus contagions have directed to a steady deterioration of amphibian populations universally as they throw off the balance of water and salt on the skin of these species and ultimately cause heart failure.
Nevertheless, recent research indicates that this amphibian killer fungus exists at low levels in frog hotspots across India.
