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2009-11-23, 02:19 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
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- New Orleans and abroad
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Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Hi everyone.
A friend of mine who does medical research just sent me this. It's a slideshow with six examples of real world parasites who control their hosts' behaviour, in some cases with zombie-like results. I think you'll all enjoy it.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/sl...05789B2A7DE00D
As my friend warns: For those who hate zombies or fear cochroaches, I'd probably just skip this one. Zombie cockroaches might just put you over the edge.
That said, it's already given me at least one great gaming idea. Picture a giant wasp that injects its victim with a poison, and the poison carries a Dominate Person effect. Since it's a poison rather than a spell, it's fair game to require a Fort save rather than a Will save against the Dominate. Quite unusual for a charm type effect... ought to make the party wizard crap his robes.
Enjoy.Last edited by Another_Poet; 2009-11-23 at 02:19 PM.
I just published my first novella, Lúnasa Days, a modern fantasy with a subtle, uncertain magic.
You can grab it on Kindle or paperback.
Proud to GM two Warhammer Adventures:
Plays as Ulrich, Student of Law
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2009-11-23, 02:41 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
I was hoping that the article would have the crab paraite from this parasite article.
http://www.neatorama.com/2006/08/21/...ing-parasites/
Gotta love freaky parasites, pretty much all of them are fascinAting enough to warrant research. Also, we should count ourselves damn lucky that a number of the sci-fi type horrors haven't evolved to prey on us yet. Actually we should just count our lucky stars for not being vulnerable to the more mundane mosquito born evils like the dog killing heartworm. Heart full of worms, not a way I want to go out.
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2009-11-23, 02:55 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
- Location
- NY
- Gender
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Avatar by the awesome - Edwin.
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2009-11-23, 03:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
- Location
- The Final Chapter
- Gender
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Some of those are the real-life inspiration for the Las Plagas parasites from Resident Evil 4. Squicky, yet awesome.
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2009-11-23, 03:31 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
I thank God for antibiotics and flamethrowers.
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2009-11-23, 03:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
From what I understand, rabies is a lot like "Zombie Disease" in certain ways.
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2009-11-23, 03:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2007
- Location
- The Final Chapter
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Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Especially African rabies.
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2009-11-23, 06:14 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Actually a lot of the really hardcore human parasites are very difficult to get rid of. It's more of a 'thank god for systems set up to encourage proper sanitation and vector management' Best way to not get parasites is to not go where they or the things that spread them live.
Blood flukes are pretty creepy... Flatworms attached to the wall of a major artery, entwined in neverendig sex, and spewing forth thousands of spined eggs into your bloodstream. Awesome.
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2009-11-23, 06:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Flamethrowers would be a bad idea in zombie combat. If zombies don't succumb to pain, then the fire would take a very long time to burn the zombie to a point where it was harmless. It'd just create a fire hazard in addition to a zombie hazard. That, and flamethrowers are too heavy to be practical. Lastly, they're illegal.
...Now you know. :p
And heh... Real World Zombies?trill in da playground
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2009-11-23, 06:25 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
- Location
- Department of Smiting
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Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Toxoplasmosis is one of those things that I'm sure tons of people would be terrified of if they knew about it.
On parasites in general, I've always found trichinosis pretty horrifying. "Thousands of worms burrowing through your muscles" is not a pretty image.
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2009-11-23, 06:32 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
It depends on how you define a Zombie. If it's undead, than it's pretty impossible. But, creatures being controlled by parasites has been the premise of some 'zombie' movies and is even a Dead World scenario in AFMBE.
I count the thing in Splinter as an undead zombie as the host is dead and guided purely by the infectious agent.
More parasites:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parel...ongylus_tenuis
Brainworm. Deer are full of them but suffer few ill effects, other ungulates (including different species of deer) are crippled or killed by them when they get infected by sharing territory with white-tails.
Modified to go with some fantasy race it could be pretty interesting. "Why do we stay out of the Elves forest and chase out any Elf we see? Because everyone that contacts them ends up crazy and dead with a head full of worms, that's why!"
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2009-11-23, 07:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
None of them are really anything on the level of a zombie apocalypse causer. Mainly because it's much easier to enter another animal by forcing your host to get eaten than it is to get your host to bite something. Which would be a terrible adaptation for many reasons.
"No extra charge!"
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2009-11-23, 09:53 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
What reasons make having your host bite things a terrible adaptation? Maybe you live in saliva like some sort of virus... where have I heard this before... virus... spread through saliva... makes its host bitey...
Rabies!
And there is more than one way to cause the zombie apocalypse than transmission by bite. Take a look at Slither for example. Those things killed and ate not to spread the alien plague directly, but to grow more of the zombiefying slugs.
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2009-11-23, 09:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2009
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2009-11-23, 10:19 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Rabies doesn't think so. Basically, nature is far from 'optimal' and is capable of crazy and counter intuitive crap and reproductive strategies that are incredibly far from simple (check most internal parasites for that with their crazy multi-step life cycle amongst several organs and different species of hosts)
Oh! Also, check out the spreadable face tumors in Tasmanian Devils. The disease doesn't make them bite each other... but they already do and it capitalizes on that pretty well as a method of transmission.
Nature, don't presume to know all its tricks.
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2009-11-23, 10:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2009
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- Somewhere
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2009-11-24, 12:19 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- New Orleans and abroad
- Gender
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Yeah, I didn't promise any apocalypses. Just real-world things that cause zombie-like behaviour.
And actually, if you go back to the original Voudun definition of a zombie as a living but mindless slave, then the co-opted cockroaches under the control of the cockroach wasp are literally, actually zombies.
If yer lookin' fer undead... not so much.I just published my first novella, Lúnasa Days, a modern fantasy with a subtle, uncertain magic.
You can grab it on Kindle or paperback.
Proud to GM two Warhammer Adventures:
Plays as Ulrich, Student of Law
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2009-11-24, 12:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2007
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Last edited by Fishy; 2009-11-24 at 12:34 AM.
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2009-11-24, 03:18 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2007
- Location
- Netherlands
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Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Considering that a lot of diseases we were once more or less resistant to (like Aids for example, not a human disease in origin), it wouldn't surprise me that we might at some point be receptable to something like rabies.
Also, scary stuff all this .
Recently resurrected. Sorry for bailing on you guys.
"Never play leapfrog with a unicorn"
Awesome OOTSatar by Crimmy, masterfully done.
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2009-11-24, 12:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2008
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- High Atop a Cloud...
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Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Banner and avatar by me!
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2009-11-24, 02:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
People can already get rabies. But generally it'll incapacitate us (and kill us) before we go all bitey. HIV is an example of an emergent disease, something that only recently has mutated in just the right way to infect humans. The longer we're around and the more places we are... the more likely more diseases are to emerge. So, really, its all a matter of time until something crazy happens like human brain worms.
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2009-11-24, 03:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2004
- Location
- Enterprise, Alabama
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Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
What is really scary is Feline Leukemia affecting humans.
The scary part about feline version?
Some versions are contagious. Yes, your cat can pass it on to other cats by saliva, tears, urine, etc. If it is possible to spread it: it will be spread.
#1 killer of felines. If it ever is acceptable to a human to be permissive (rights signals on surface, etc): it will be worse than any other virus.
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2009-11-24, 03:47 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: Real World Zombies in the Animal Kingdom
Hey, they mentioned my University!
Anyway, I really assume it's just a matter of time before a zombie apocalypse. *pats his shotgun*Thanks to zegma for my awesome avatar.
Proudly the founder of the Mr. Scruffy fanclub.
We will not let Nessie down! http://www.petitiononline.com/PLEAOSAR/
My DMs' Guild Stuff
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2009-11-24, 05:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2008