The poem at the end is a hoot.
http://www.vexman.com/botfly.htm
-jeff
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Jeff Keller" <jrk_om@xxxxxxxxxxx>
The squirrels around here sometimes get pretty "ratty" looking. I think from
fleas. Doing a quick google on bot fly immediately turns up one that
parasitizes humans ... in a bizarre way. The adult fly captures a female
mosquito, lays eggs on it and then releases it. When the mosquito feeds on a
victim, the eggs detect the heat, hatch, and burrow into the skin.
Apparently it is almost impossible to remove it whole.
A discovery show talked to a guy who nearly died from a parasitic fly in
Africa. He ended up with several hundred larvae in his body while out in the
wild. He was loosing his ability to think when a local came by, smeared him
with grease and pulled the larvae out when they came out far enough to
breathe.
I'll have to find the pictures of the tick I pulled out of my son. It's
amazing what the Zuiko 20mm can do.
-jeff
----Original Message Follows----
From: Johnny Johnson <jjohnso4@xxxxxxxxxx>
Thanks Chuck (and Jeff too) - For some reason it didn't cross my mind
that they were the cocoons of a parasitic fly even though
I'm fascinated with the bot and warble flies that infect squirrels
and livestock. I had just commented to Mitchelle the other day that
the squirrels were developing sores on their backs from the bot fly
"wolves".
Thanks again,
Johnny
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