Static electricity might help ticks zoom through the air to grab onto people and animals.
FILE - A deer tick is viewed under a microscope in the entomology lab at the University of Rhode Island in South Kingstown, R.I., on March 2002. Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, according to a study published Friday, June 30, 2023, in the journal Current Biology. Hungry ticks have some slick tricks.
Ticks are “ambush predators,” explained Stephen Rich, a public health entomologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It seemed that ticks were limited to how far they could stretch on their “tippy toes,” England said. But now, scientists are learning that static charges may help expand their reach.
The researchers looked at a species of tick called the castor bean tick, which is common across Europe. This bloodsucker and its cousins are major culprits in spreading diseases to animals and humans, including Lyme disease, and are most active in warm months.
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