This Mushroom Fakes Its Own Death To Trick Flies, Deep Look

The cage fungus looks and smells like decaying meat on purpose. Its goopy lattice gives off a rotten odor that attracts flies, which help spread its spores far and wide. It s like a bee to a flower, but way more macabre and putrid. SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look Please join our community on Patreon DEEP LOOK is an ultraHD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. Cage fungus gets its name from the shape of its spongy latticeshaped mushroom. It s this kind of redorange geodesic dome, says naturalist Damon Tighe. They can get up to the size of a softball and they re open on the inside where they ve got this sticky, gooey substance called gleba. The gleba contains the fungus reproductive spores and its the gleba that gives the mushroom its fetid aroma. It reeks of death, says Tigh