t***@t6b.com
2015-06-08 19:26:26 UTC
Just in case you have ticks around this year.....
Subject: Fwd: Thank a opossum today!
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
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.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr
com/2106782/opossums-the-unsung-heroes-against-lyme-disease-and-other-tick-bo
ne-diseases/#hFfc0xhtDD03JFzK.99
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2015.0.5961 / Virus Database: 4355/9974 - Release Date: 06/08/15
Subject: Fwd: Thank a opossum today!
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
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.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr
com/2106782/opossums-the-unsung-heroes-against-lyme-disease-and-other-tick-bo
ne-diseases/#hFfc0xhtDD03JFzK.99
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2015.0.5961 / Virus Database: 4355/9974 - Release Date: 06/08/15