Former president, Jimmy Carter, is still alive remarkably and he is in his hundredth year. It seems that his true legacy is to almost eradicate or at least reduce enormously the incidence of the infestation of African people by the guinea worm. The Times reports …
This article is about animals because multicellular eukaryotic organisms are animals and mites are within that definition. They are parasitic invertebrates. They burrow under the skin causing a tunnel with a raised surface and develop into blisters that spread across the body. The point of …
News and comment: you may have heard about the alleged surge in bedbug infestations in the UK ostensibly imported from France but I don’t think this is correct because my research indicates that there has been a steady increase in bedbug infestations in the UK …
We are told today (The Times) that there is sexism in the naming of parasitic worms and that it must be stamped out. The bias in the naming of parasitic worms is apparent from the fact that well over a third of the authors of …
Yes, it is legal to own a fox in the UK. The reason is as follows. The fox is specifically “excepted” meaning not subject to the rules regarding the keeping of dangerous wild animals as set out in two pieces of British legislation namely: The …
The famous New Forest in the UK has both dog walkers and grazing cattle on it at any one time. New Forest commoners, such as Tom Gould, are allowed to graze their cattle on this common land and national park. Tom Gould has 38 cattle …
NEWS AND COMMENT: I’m astonished to learn that within a few months of being born a moose living in New England, USA, can acquire 50,000 ticks. The problem is that moose are inflexible creatures which means that they don’t have the ability to lick or …
Well, if you want to know what a tick looks like when it is embedded into the skin of your dog or cat, this picture by Cuyahoga Falls Veterinary Clinic, Inc. shows you very nicely. What struck me was how deeply the head is embedded …
I always thought that parasites contributed nothing to the planet or to humankind. I was wrong. There is a call to make sure that humankind extends their conservation programs to parasites and not just the animals on which (and in which) the parasites live. Scientists …
