- To suck the blood of passersby, ticks must first snag a host from their perch on a leaf or flower—a tricky feat for a sesame seed–size arachnid that can’t jump. But though they can’t leap, it turns out they can fly. Their secret? Static electricity.
A new study suggests the tiny arachnids ride the charged air that forms around animals as they make their way through the underbrush, researchers report today in Current Biology. 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 above). The minimum amount of static needed to lift a tick was well within the estimated amount of electricity that humans and other mammals build by rubbing up against grass blades as they walk through a field; the higher charges humans carry could theoretically pull ticks several centimeters.
#breaking #news #ticks
Learn More:
https://www.science.org/content/article/watch-ticks-fly-through-air-power-static-electricity
https://blog.entomologist.net/is-static-electricity-used-by-ticks.html
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