Summary
Some mushrooms smell like rotting meat to lure flies -- and the flies carry off their spores. Deep Look shows how a fungus uses trickery to spread and start the next generation.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
This mushroom mimics the smell of decay to attract flies. When the flies visit, they pick up spores and carry them away, helping the fungus reproduce in new places -- a sneaky step in its life cycle.
- How does this mushroom get flies to help it?
- What do the flies carry away from the mushroom?
- Why is spreading spores important for the fungus?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: fungus, spore, mimic, reproduce.
Try it: Draw a fly leaving a mushroom with dots (spores) on its feet. Write how the fly helps the fungus spread to a new spot.