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July 12, 2010

Hate Blood-Sucking Ticks? So Do Moose!

Ticks live on wild animals, such as moose and deer. Literally. These vicious arachnids hang out on high grass and other plants until somebody comes along. Ticks then grab on to the animal's fur and then find their way down to the skin. The tick then starts sucking the host's blood. After it fills up, it's supposed to drop off. Usually in late spring, at which point some live on to create the next generation. However, something is changing this behavior. Can you guess what it is before watching the video?

A single moose can have more than 35,000 ticks. In this National Geographic video, you'll hear about one such moose that had more than 100,000 ticks!

You know what happens where there are that many ticks on a moose? They become anemic and die. The ticks suck too much blood out of them and they cannot survive the winter.

So, if you haven't seen moose in your yard lately, don't worry too much. You'll likely have fewer disease-spreading ticks!

Posted by shane at July 12, 2010 12:00 PM