Tick, Doing More Than Mosquitoes to Organisms

I fear for ticks on my dogs because I do not want to lose them and maybe this is because of an event I read sometime back in 2019 when a bull died in North Carolina from exsanguination caused by heavy infestation of Asian longhorned ticks. Asian Longhorned tick is one off the about 850 species of tick around the world and all ticks suck blood, all ticks can carry diseases and the annoying part is when you try to kill them because they are very difficult to kill.

They are found everywhere around the world but are predominant in hot and temperate regions but these doesn't mean they are not found in cold regions because a lot of tick species can withstand freezing weather. They are so keen to survive almost everywhere that a specie of tick known as the Seabird tick are found on penguins in Antarctica.

^Pickpik

Ticks are very invasive and they multiply very fast but this doesn't mean that they are continuously looking for that host to latch on. Actually, they are just opportunist, taking everything they can get once they find a host that is willing to shelter and feed them. They stretch their sticky hands known as Howlers organ to hosts in a process known as Host seeking or questing so they find a host to feed on.

It is very rare to see ticks in open places on the body of animals, they would find their way to conceal places such as the inner part of the ear, between paws and fingers, or under furs. With its hook-like harpoon shaped structured mouth with a knife-like structure known as the Chelicerae, it tears into the flesh of the animal or human which helps it from falling off and gives it access to suck blood. When they have successfully hooked themselves to the flesh, they then release a straw-like organ with spikes which makes the organ difficult to remove, and they begin to suck the blood from the host.