rockin'robin
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Several states in the U.S. are reporting record populations of ticks and increasing tick-borne disease transmission, like Lyme disease, but clearing your yard of these blood suckers might be only one opossum away. Yes, that giant rat-looking animal that plays dead when threatened and hisses like the devil’s spawn when scared is actually extremely beneficial to humans and other mammals. Opossums’ diets include snakes, snails, slugs, mice, rats, and carrion. Perhaps the most intriguing item on an opossum’s daily menu is an even more dreaded human foe: the tick. Opossums’ voracious appetite for ticks can nearly obliterate a tick population.
Scientist Rick Ostfeld points out that few ticks survive a run in with an opossum. These animals, often called filthy, are actually remarkable groomers and spend almost all of their free time grooming themselves. Ticks are attracted to these mammals, but most of them never survive on an opossum’s body long enough to taste a single drop of blood
So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left,” Ostfeld explained, “killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”
Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell told the Detroit Free Press that the tick population is increasing. Russell says that both male and female ticks feed on blood and these thirsty bloodsuckers can transmit diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Robert Pinger, professor emeritus of physiology and health science at Ball State University, told the Indy Star that in the past couple of decades, the population of deer ticks, which is a host for Lyme disease, has grown exponentially in the U.S.. According to Slate, reports of tick-borne diseases have doubled since 2003 and tripled since 1995 in America.
Posted in: Animal News
Posted: May 26, 2015
Opossums: The Unsung Heroes Against Lyme Disease And Other Tick-Borne Diseases
image: http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/opossums-tick-lyme-disease-665x385.jpg
Opossums can kill over 5000 ticks in a week, preventing countless cases of Lyme disease.
Several states in the U.S. are reporting record populations of ticks and increasing tick-borne disease transmission, like Lyme disease, but clearing your yard of these blood suckers might be only one opossum away. Yes, that giant rat-looking animal that plays dead when threatened and hisses like the devil’s spawn when scared is actually extremely beneficial to humans and other mammals. Opossums’ diets include snakes, snails, slugs, mice, rats, and carrion. Perhaps the most intriguing item on an opossum’s daily menu is an even more dreaded human foe: the tick. Opossums’ voracious appetite for ticks can nearly obliterate a tick population.
Scientist Rick Ostfeld points out that few ticks survive a run in with an opossum. These animals, often called filthy, are actually remarkable groomers and spend almost all of their free time grooming themselves. Ticks are attracted to these mammals, but most of them never survive on an opossum’s body long enough to taste a single drop of blood.
“So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left,” Ostfeld explained, “killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”
Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell told the Detroit Free Press that the tick population is increasing. Russell says that both male and female ticks feed on blood and these thirsty bloodsuckers can transmit diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
ADVERTISEMENT
Robert Pinger, professor emeritus of physiology and health science at Ball State University, told the Indy Star that in the past couple of decades, the population of deer ticks, which is a host for Lyme disease, has grown exponentially in the U.S.. According to Slate, reports of tick-borne diseases have doubled since 2003 and tripled since 1995 in America.
Possum Posse bragged about the opossum’s powers of fighting our tick foes after reading a study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“The new paper’s authors, Keesey et al., caught a range of tick hosts — white-footed mice, eastern chipmunks, gray squirrels, opossums, veeries, and catbirds — and experimentally infested them with ticks. They found a huge range of tick success across the six host species: almost half of all ticks introduced onto mice were able to feed, while only 3.5% of ticks introduced onto opossums were…Wild-caught opossums carried an average of almost 200 ticks — if that’s 3.5% of the ticks that try to feed on a opossum, then that means each opossum had attracted, and eaten, up to 5,500 ticks!”
That’s in just one week. An opossum successfully grooms off and kills and average of 5,686 larval ticks every week. The DFW Wildlife Coalition also sang praises to the opossum.
(Read more_
http://www.inquisitr.com/2106782/op...t-lyme-disease-and-other-tick-borne-diseases/
Scientist Rick Ostfeld points out that few ticks survive a run in with an opossum. These animals, often called filthy, are actually remarkable groomers and spend almost all of their free time grooming themselves. Ticks are attracted to these mammals, but most of them never survive on an opossum’s body long enough to taste a single drop of blood
So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left,” Ostfeld explained, “killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”
Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell told the Detroit Free Press that the tick population is increasing. Russell says that both male and female ticks feed on blood and these thirsty bloodsuckers can transmit diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
Robert Pinger, professor emeritus of physiology and health science at Ball State University, told the Indy Star that in the past couple of decades, the population of deer ticks, which is a host for Lyme disease, has grown exponentially in the U.S.. According to Slate, reports of tick-borne diseases have doubled since 2003 and tripled since 1995 in America.
Posted in: Animal News
Posted: May 26, 2015
Opossums: The Unsung Heroes Against Lyme Disease And Other Tick-Borne Diseases
image: http://cdn.inquisitr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/opossums-tick-lyme-disease-665x385.jpg
Opossums can kill over 5000 ticks in a week, preventing countless cases of Lyme disease.
Several states in the U.S. are reporting record populations of ticks and increasing tick-borne disease transmission, like Lyme disease, but clearing your yard of these blood suckers might be only one opossum away. Yes, that giant rat-looking animal that plays dead when threatened and hisses like the devil’s spawn when scared is actually extremely beneficial to humans and other mammals. Opossums’ diets include snakes, snails, slugs, mice, rats, and carrion. Perhaps the most intriguing item on an opossum’s daily menu is an even more dreaded human foe: the tick. Opossums’ voracious appetite for ticks can nearly obliterate a tick population.
Scientist Rick Ostfeld points out that few ticks survive a run in with an opossum. These animals, often called filthy, are actually remarkable groomers and spend almost all of their free time grooming themselves. Ticks are attracted to these mammals, but most of them never survive on an opossum’s body long enough to taste a single drop of blood.
“So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left,” Ostfeld explained, “killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health.”
Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell told the Detroit Free Press that the tick population is increasing. Russell says that both male and female ticks feed on blood and these thirsty bloodsuckers can transmit diseases like Lyme and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
ADVERTISEMENT
Robert Pinger, professor emeritus of physiology and health science at Ball State University, told the Indy Star that in the past couple of decades, the population of deer ticks, which is a host for Lyme disease, has grown exponentially in the U.S.. According to Slate, reports of tick-borne diseases have doubled since 2003 and tripled since 1995 in America.
Possum Posse bragged about the opossum’s powers of fighting our tick foes after reading a study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“The new paper’s authors, Keesey et al., caught a range of tick hosts — white-footed mice, eastern chipmunks, gray squirrels, opossums, veeries, and catbirds — and experimentally infested them with ticks. They found a huge range of tick success across the six host species: almost half of all ticks introduced onto mice were able to feed, while only 3.5% of ticks introduced onto opossums were…Wild-caught opossums carried an average of almost 200 ticks — if that’s 3.5% of the ticks that try to feed on a opossum, then that means each opossum had attracted, and eaten, up to 5,500 ticks!”
That’s in just one week. An opossum successfully grooms off and kills and average of 5,686 larval ticks every week. The DFW Wildlife Coalition also sang praises to the opossum.
(Read more_
http://www.inquisitr.com/2106782/op...t-lyme-disease-and-other-tick-borne-diseases/
