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Static Electricity Passively Attracts Ticks Onto Hosts

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Deer Tick Questing Photo Credit: James Occi, PhD

The Current Biology Journal (England S.J., et al.) 06.30.2023, published “Static electricity passively attracts ticks onto hosts.”

This study aims to prove the hypothesis that ticks are passively attracted to mammals, birds, and reptiles through electrostatic forces from the animals. Most land animals generate “electric forces that interact with other charges in their environment.” The study hypothesizes that ticks are incapable of jumping, and therefore are pulled by the animal’s electric fields onto the animal. The study explains that this could open up our understanding of how ticks find their hosts, and could lead to solutions to possibly avoid the economic, social, and public health impacts that ticks have on humans and animals.

 


For More Information:

Read the article on the Current Biology Journal website.

Read more on ticks and static electricity on the Forbes website.