Everyone Has a Back Story

Let's start with a little background info on our subject: the tick. They don't fly or jump, or anything as dynamic as other parasites with which you're probably acquainted.  They lie in wait; patiently stalking their prey, which is really more of a host, as they're goal is not to kill or devour you, but simply to ingest your blood until they become engorged and fall off.  They seem to have no other purpose in life other than to procreate, aside from the occasional  moonlighter with a penchant for accounting of course.  They don't feed very often,  but when they do, look out! They're very good at passing ugly diseases around from host to host. Want to know how they find their hosts? I figured you did.

They have very complex  sensory organs that specialize in gas detection. As carbon-based, warm blooded creatures, many of us on this planet emit carbon dioxide. Ticks pick up on a promising carbon-dioxide trail and inexplicably position themselves along the source's intended path. They're sneakiness is uncanny. Now, if you want to know how to kill ticks you have to know your adversary.

Ticks are often thought of as insects, but they're actually arachnids -- another possible source of their cunning. Nobody ever called a spider stupid. Well, I'm sure someone has, but generally, spiders are thought of as clever animals. Anyway, ticks are very good at spreading diseases as I mentioned earlier, some of the most efficient in the animal kingdom in fact. When they suck blood, they do it very slowly. In most mammals a  tick will go unnoticed for days while feeding. Then, they get really big and fall off. It's pretty disgusting. We've all seen the pictures, but here's another one just in case. 

There are many different types of ticks out there waiting to pounce, figuratively speaking. But I'll save them for next post. Until then, let's watch this informative and disgusting video on our little parasitic friends, aptly deigned "The Bloodsucking Ninja of Summer."