Written By: Ivey Ingalls-Rubin

Zombies, a horror fantasy among this generation has had an enormous effect through-out the media.

From video games to movies, survival kits and endless blogs, the concept of “zombies” have taken over the youth with as much hunger and widespread infestation as an actual zombie apocalypse.

So exactly how probable and possible is a zombie occurrence in nature though?

The definition of zombification is an organism controlling the mental state of another, and driving it to act as if it has no will of its’ own. This phenomenon is actually fairly common.

Among the most brutal of these zombie take overs comes from the jewel wasp. Who injects their venom into roaches causing them to be steered into the wasp’s nest, where they are promptly eaten alive.

Then there is the parasite Toxoplasmosa gondii. This bug infects rats, and can only propagate inside the intestines of a cat. This parasite reprograms the rats’ brain to be attracted to cats. That’s right; the rat gets itself eaten all for the sake of the parasite without even knowing it.

Yet another is the emergence of the “zombie bee.” A fly that attaches itself to a bee, injects its eggs, which then grow inside the host. It’s believed to cause neurological damage triggering erratic, spasmodic movement and abnormal night activity.

If you define zombies however, as reanimated corpses then the probability is much less likely.

Deprived of a functioning respiratory and circulatory system, the human body ceases making ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) a key enzyme in energy production.

ATP is the main component that powers muscle contraction as well as the ion pumps in neural membranes.

You see, without ATP these “zombies” that haunt our entertainment genres, couldn’t move because of rigor mortis or even have the slightest hint of basic thoughts, like hunger.

So don’t fret about the idea of zombies munching away at you. You may lay that thought in a final resting place.

To read more about zombification in the world around us, please visit:

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2012/02/13/real-life-zombies-10-examples-of-mind-control-in-nature/