A study published in 2024 has left scientists “baffled” as no one can figure out what the heck is going on with this little frog.
Scientists and naturalists observing a golden-backed frog along the side of the road in Karnataka, India, were pretty stunned when they found a teeny little mushroom growing out of the side of one of the frogs, according to the study published in the journal Reptiles and Amphibians. The frog was otherwise seemingly healthy, leaving scientists stumped over how on Earth it had this strange fungal growth, which is eerily reminiscent of the horrifying fungi infection seen in the hit show “The Last of Us.”
“When I first observed the frog with the mushroom, I was amazed and intrigued by the sight,” World Wildlife Fund wetlands specialist Lohit Y T told AccuWeather via email. “My thought was to document it, as this phenomenon is something we have never heard of. We just wanted this to be a rare incident and not a dangerous phenomenon for the frog.”
The discovery has left scientists baffled. https://t.co/VNjJklVQID pic.twitter.com/grpATbWRdS
— AccuWeather (@accuweather) March 4, 2024
As the frog moved around, the mushroom stayed firmly planted to its side. Likely out of caution, the group did not touch the frog or collect it for sampling. As a result, there is no way to know how the frog came to grow the mushroom, nor how the growth impacted it over the course of its life. But some scientists have spoken up about the bizarre discovery.
A group of researchers in India have discovered a mushroom sprouting from the side of a golden-backed frog. https://t.co/GEUU19gmCg pic.twitter.com/V8PEGONJHa
— ABC News (@ABC) March 2, 2024
“Fungi are dynamic organisms that adapt to changes in their environment, and with exposure to new potential hosts in different environments or climates they may grow in places we hadn’t previously expected,” Cornell University postdoctoral associate Alyssa Wetterau told AccuWeather. (RELATED: ‘The Last Of Us’ Ep3 Explains How The End Of The World Happened In 3 Days, And It’s Terrifying)
Fungal infections in frogs are fairly common, but the extent of this growth is not. India is actually experiencing a massive fungal epidemic known as chytridiomycosis, which directly targets frogs. But from observational data, the mushroom on this particular frog is not the same as that seen in cases of Chytrid disease.