1Incredibly, 80% of all insects live in jungles.
2Few are more successful than the ants.
3There can be 8 million individuals in a single hectare.
4But jungle ants don't have it all their own way.
5These Bullet Ants are showing some worrying symptoms.
6Spores from a parasitic fungus called "cordyceps" have infiltrated their bodies and their minds.
7Its infected brain directs this ant upwards.
8Then, utterly disorientated, it grips a stem with its mandibles.
9Those affected that are discovered by the workers are quickly taken away and dumped far away from the colony.
10It seems extreme but this is the reason why.
11Like something out of science fiction,
12the fruiting body of the cordyceps erupts from the ant's head.
13It can take three weeks to grow
14and when finished the deadly spores will burst from its tip
15then any ant in the vicinity will be in serious risk of death.
16The fungus is so virulent, it can wipe out whole colonies of ants.
17And it's not just ants that fall victim to this killer.
18There are literally thousands of different types of cordyceps fungi
19and, remarkably, each specializes on just one species.
20...
21But these attacks do have a positive effect on the jungle's diversity
22since parasites like these stop any one group of animal getting the upper hand.
23The more numerous a species becomes the more likely it will be attacked by its nemesis - a cordyceps fungus.