Flying Ticks

AAAS: “Watch ticks fly through the air via the power of static electricity.” It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s a 14 second video. Blood-sucking arachnids quite possibly rely on the electrical charge accumulating on the surface of mammals as they walk through tall grass. Nymphal ticks the size of a sesame seed must master the secrete of snagging a host even though they can’t jump. But the electrically charged potential created by hosts walking through brush may help the numphs make jump using static electricity. “Using statically charged rabbit fur and other charged materials in the lab, researchers were able to pull castor bean ticks (Ixodes ricinus) across gaps of air three to four times their body length (as seen in the video).” The minimum quantum of static needed to lift a tick is within the estimated amount humans + other mammals build up by rubbing against blades of grass as they walk through a field. Higher static charges could theoretically pull ticks several centimeters. More worrisome news: “Lice, mites, and even fleas may use electricity to help ensure they reach their much more mobile meals.” Given the multiple infections such as lyme disease that are transmitted by ticks + other ectoparasites, vigilence is necessary as climate change enlarges the range of some of these critters. #ticks #static #climatechange