Ticks - a plague for humans and animals alike
They're small, robust and dreaded by young and old: ticks put a dampener on summer fun, and not only for humans. Animals have developed creative ways to deal with the parasite. Don't try their methods at home.
Beware of ticks!
There are approximately 900 tick species across the world. The eight-legged crawlies are not insects, but rather belong to the Acari, which also include mites. They live in shrubs or grass and are just waiting for a bloody meal to walk past. The most common tick in Germany is the castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus).
Sting and suck
Ticks use their front legs and mouths to dig into their victim's skin. They pick spots where the skin is especially thin and the capillaries are right under the surface. The main part of their diet is not blood, however, but lymph, which leaks from the wound.
Tick saliva with healing powers?
Many ticks transfer bacteria or viruses that can lead to serious illnesses. If you get bitten by a tick in Germany, you could contract Lyme disease or Encephalitis. But the small animals can also do good. Oxford researchers have recently found out that a protein from the tick's saliva can block infections, which makes it a potential cure for a certain type of heart disease.
Endangered elks
Despite this discovery, ticks are still overwhelmingly negative. Elks, for example, suffer an increased number of ticks because of shorter and warmer winters in the eastern US. Last winter, 70 percent of elk calves there died - because they were sucked empty by ticks, according to researchers at the University of New Hampshire.
Anti-parasite symbiosis
In Africa, birds and mammals work together to get rid of ticks. This yellow-billed oxpecker (Buphagus africanus) is eating the ticks off a warthog. It's a win-win: the warthog gets rid of the bloodsuckers and the bird gets a delicious meal.
Tobacco to turn off ticks
Birds get ticks, too. The house finch has developed a strategy to fight ticks. A study in the Avian Biology journal has shown that breeding house finches use cigarette stubs to "proof" their nests. The nicotine wards off parasites, but sadly the neurotoxin can also have negative effects on the chicks.
Little hope of improvement
There's currently no plan for getting rid of the ticks for good, and it wouldn't be an easy task either. The little parasites are quite robust and can survive a cycle in the washing machine as well as time in the freezer. If you have a tick bite, make sure your encephalitis vaccination is up-to-date.