THE FOLLOWING SUGGESTION OF NANO-
PARASITE REX
In a study I produced many, many years ago, Parasite Rex, I offered the most recent information on the invasion of a host creature by a very simple parasite. Ultimately, the point of the study was that an invading tiny organism could completely take over its host causing it do things that it would not normally do, in many cases behaving in a fashion that would bring on the demise of the host. For example:
Mayflies live and die in one day. After mating, males fall to the ground and die.
Females descend to the water below and lay their eggs. Waiting in the water, however,
are parasitic nematodes waiting to feed on newborn female mayflies. When the new
females are born, these parasites begin to reproduce within the female’s body, ready
to spring forth when she once again returns to the waters below to lay her eggs.
If the parasite ends up in a male, the parasite forces him to act like a female
and descend to the water below and begin convulsing as if giving birth -
The lancet fluke, Dicrocoelium dendriticum, resides in the belly of cows, laying its eggs which emerge in the cow’s excrement. Snails that feed on the droppings, end up eating the parasite eggs. The young parasites then emerge from the snail in its excrement. Ants then devour the new born parasites, and the parasites make their way into the ant’s brain. Most ants scurry around conducting their everyday activities, but not the ant with its parasite invader. This ant climbs to the top of a blade of grass waiting for the next hungry cow to graze on its perch. By committing suicide, the ant has made it possible for the next generation of lancet flukes to return to the stomach of the cow.
Shrimps generally hug the bottom of their water world. But not any shrimp that has
been infected with the P. Paradoxus parasite. They rise to the surface, making themselves
vulnerable to hungry birds. Once inside the belly of the birds, they reproduce and
fall to the water in the feces of their flying hosts. Once in the water, they fall
to the bottom where they are eaten by the bottom-
When the Toxoplasma parasite infests the internal system of a rat, it immediately attacks the brain. Contrary to its basic survival instincts, the rat becomes a kamikaze and heads straight for a cat. Why? Because only in the digestive system of the cat can the parasite reproduce. Unfortunately, this also means that the parasite is often ejected in the cat’s feces. How does the parasite return to the cat’s internal organs? By infecting any passing creature who eats the cat’s feces.
Enter the rat (really ‘enter the rat’), rush to his brain and cause him to ‘sacrifice’ himself to the cat. The cat eats the rat and the cycle is renewed. How remarkable is that for a microscopic creature?
© ROBERT MORNING SKY 2008 -
THE INVADERS
