The Viagra Of The Himalayas Brings In Big Bucks And Big Problems

People live for — and die because of — the "Viagra of the Himalayas."

That's the nickname for one of the weirdest fungi around.

It starts with the larva of the ghost moth — a caterpillar that lives underground. A fungus invades the larva, kills it and consumes the body. Just the outer skeleton remains.

Eventually, a small brown stalk erupts from the dead caterpillar's head. In the spring, the pinkie-sized stalk pokes an inch or two from the earth. That's when people across the Tibetan Plateau head to the high-alpine meadows to harvest the crazy-looking creature.

It's not just for the fun of it. For centuries, people have believed that the fungus known as "yartsa gunbu," literally "summer grass, winter worm," is an aphrodisiac. According to ancient Tibetan texts, men who eat it are promised "the delights of thousands of beautiful women." That's why top quality yartsa sells for around $2,000 an ounce – more than the price of gold. In China, yartsa is a status symbol.

And in Tibet, people fight over it. They sometimes even kill each other. In 2014, a dispute between the local community and a park management committee about the right to collect fees for access to yartsa gunbu led to two deaths