Ask Me Everything1

Where can you find a

parasite?

Parasites live off another living thing, feeding from their host without helping it in return. They can be difficult to spot, as most are a lot smaller than their host. Some, such as ticks, fleas, and lice, live on the skin. Others, such as roundworms, live and feed inside the host’s body.

How to: suck blood like a chigger

Six steps to lingering death (if you’re a cloverworm)

01: Some clover plants

attract a female wasp to attack the cloverworms that eat them.

02: If they detect the wasp, the cloverworms fling themselves off the edge of the leaf. They stay attached by spinning a single thread of silk.

03: This tactic puts off most wasps, but not all. One species slides down the thread, then paralyzes its Caterpillar prey with a Sting.

04: Next, the wasp lays its eggs inside the Caterpillar’s body.

05: The Caterpillar recovers from the Sting and climbs back up the thread, unaware of its deadly cargo.

06: As the wasp young grow inside the Caterpillar’s body, they slowly eat it from the inside out.

Every living thing has at /7    least one parasite that

lives inside or on it. Many, including humans, have many morę.

Parasites may make up //    the majority of species on

Earth. They may even outnumber “free-living” species by four to one.

Some parasites have /'    parasites, and some

of those parasites even have their own parasites!

Parasites are often /!    insects, but they can also

include flatworms, fish, crustaceans, and birds.

\J I ■ Have your parent harvest mites lay their eggs in tali grass. One of these will hatch into you, little chigger!

Climb to the tip of a blade of grass and wait for a host to pass by. Any warm-blooded mammal will do.

Tell me morę: mosguito senses

Mosquitoes have been buzzing around for morę than 100 miilion years, and in that time they’ve become excellent trackers:

Chemical sensors: Detect carbon dioxide and substances in sweat—that’s why sweaty people are easy targets

Heat sensors:

Enable mosquitoes to hunt you down in the dark once they get close enough

Visual sensors: Zero in on anything that is moving, especially if your clothes contrast with your surroundings

, Proboscis (mouthparts):

"“Bites” and sips blood

(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley. All Rights Reserved

Pair of tiny claws: On the

leg to balance the mosquito when climbing, or hanging upside-down on a ceiling