CNN 2012-07-09

 it is a small caterpillar 1 fungus 2 that is believed to boost sexual performance naturally. Then it is found only in the high altitudes of the Hymalayas, and earning the nickname Himalayan Viagra. So, it doesn't pop out in the backyard. You won't find it there. People are flocking to that region now in search of what they think is a wonder drug. Kyle Knight 3 is a journalist. He's stationed in Nepal, but joins by phone from Italy. Kyle, first of all, tell us about this fungus - what it looks like, how it's found and how it's consumed. 

 
Well, it’s a extremely small specimen 4 that sticks out of the ground and looks essentially 5 like a thick blade of grass. What happens before this is that a parasitic 6 fungus kills and mummifies a caterpillar underground and then it grows up out of its brain and sticks out to the ground and this is what people are looking for. They are essentially looking for a piece of fungus that is attached to a caterpillar corpse 7 that is sticking out of the ground about anywhere between one and four centimetres. 
 
Yeah, and why wouldn't you want to eat that? And that we should, should’ve mentioned that the caterpillar fungus is about more than just the later aphrodisiac, it’s also been around in traditional healing for a long time, right?
 
Yes, it's been used for a number of different ailments 8, illnesses throughout its history, and the history isn’t particularly well documented. It’s early on the outside of ten years that the sort of aphrodisiac quality has been marketed around the world. 
 
Mh, now, there is the downside of course. Explain how getting this fungus is affecting the Himalayan grasslands 10. 
 
Well, it only grows at certain altitudes and again, this is understudied, so it’s not exactly known where, however, when, you know, in one particular district of Nepal I did research, the police estimate 40,000 people will migrate this year for the harvest, and the harvest takes place about over the course of a month that actually just ended this week. So when you have all of the people coming, it means more garbage. It means more people trampling 11 on the grasslands and crawling around. And also the harvesting method itself involves digging about an 8-inch diameter hole, and sifting 12 through the soil that way. So it leaves the grassland 9 sort of pockmarks and also tracks just from the general increase in population.
 
I can only imagine. What does that mean to the people who used those lands traditionally? 
 
Well, I had people counting in interviews that it means that their yaks 13 and their cows are not getting enough grass during the warm month. So that they are thinner going into the winter and they tend to die more often. And so this means the local livestock 14 are suffering. It also means in general, for some people can make more of a profit from the harvest itself, by opening up a small store or a guesthouse or something like that. So, you get mixed reactions from this influx 15 of the outsiders in these regions. 
 
Well, that’s an extraordinary tale. Kyle, thanks so much. Kyle Knight there, a journalist who's normally in Nepal Joining us here from Italy, believe it or not. Well, when you think of Saudi Arabian fashion,