• Question: Do parasites change the behaviour of the animals you study?

    Asked by LeahAnnaMairead to Maureen on 5 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Maureen

      Maureen answered on 5 Nov 2018:

      They do! The parasites I study are called acanthocephalans and they have thorny heads which they stick into the intestines of their hosts. 😱 They have two hosts they have to live in, a final host, which is a duck, and an intermediate host, which is a shrimp. The parasite hijacks the shrimp’s brain to make him move TOWARDS the duck and get eaten by the duck!!!

Comments