47,000 Ticks on a Moose, and That's Just Average. Blame Climate Change.

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/climate/moose-ticks.html

47,000 Ticks on a Moose, and That’s Just Average. Blame Climate Change.
By Kendra Pierre-Louis
Oct. 18, 2018

The biggest number of winter ticks that Peter J. Pekins ever found on a moose was about 100,000. But that moose calf was already dead, most likely the victim of anemia, which develops when that many ticks drain a moose’s blood. So it was probably a lowball estimate, because some of the ticks had already detached.

Between 2014 and 2016, Dr. Pekins counted ticks on moose calves at two locations in New Hampshire and Maine. He wanted to see how the moose were faring, given that climate change has been delaying snow’s arrival in New England’s winters.

The longer-lasting warmth gives the ticks a leg up as they glom onto the moose, their preferred hosts, in the fall. They then feed through winter and hop off in the spring to lay eggs.

With the help of a team that shoots nets from helicopters to catch and tag the calves with radio collars (a process that takes about 15 minutes for the moose and eschews the use of drugs), Dr. Pekins was able to track 179 moose calves. The average number of ticks he found on them was 47,371.

[democratisphere]

1. If a politician doesn't believe in climate change, they should not be allowed to hold or run

for political office. Real Science Matters!
Perhaps the moose should be outfitted with heavy duty flea and tick collars or the like!

[Haggis for Breakfast]

4. Perhaps the moose should run for office.

[democratisphere]

5. Sounds like a great idea but I'm not sure we want to subject the moose

to the infestation within a political office.

[Achilleaze]

2. republican lies about climate change are dangerous

republican lies about climate change are dangerous

[bronxiteforever]

3. Kick and recommend for visibility. I read all

Climate change articles I can. The evidence is overwhelming that man made climate change is destroying enviorments at an astounding rate. So very depressing. Whatever chance we have to weather the storms ahead are found in the Democratic Party. The GOP has abandoned belief in science and the old men in charge of it don’t give a rat’s ass for any future generations.

It’s not dark yet but it’s getting there. We have to vote because literally our lives depend on it.

[trusty elf]

6. horrifying